Process Safety and
Disaster Prevention/BCP

At the Nippon Soda Group, recognizing that the continuation of safe, stable production activities and the stable supply of products and services is fundamental to our business activities, we promote process safety and disaster prevention activities. Further, we are constantly working to improve our business continuity plan so that we can quickly recover and restart production activities in the event of a natural disaster or other emergency, and at the same time reinforcing our stable supply structure.

Process Safety and
Disaster Prevention

Risk Management

Third-party diagnoses of disaster prevention capabilities

Sompo Risk Management Inc. regularly diagnoses the disaster prevention capabilities of Nippon Soda and its manufacturing Group companies. (Diagnoses were cancelled in FY 2022 to prevent the spread of COVID-19)

Safety Management

Safety audit to confirm the safety of plants

To ensure the safety of processes in the construction and renovation of facilities, the Nippon Soda Group undergoes safety reviews and audits by managers and internal experts. Facilities and operations are inspected for safety, work environment, quality and other factors.
Facilities of Group manufacturing companies undergo periodic RC audits to assess the management conditions of manufacturing facilities, and the results are incorporated into activities to improve process safety and disaster prevention.

Safety audits prior to trial operation by the Head Office

Chiba Plant, July 7, 2021
Safety audits prior to trial operation of pilot testing/manufacturing facility for samples of new specialty polymer SBS.
As a result of document and on-site audits, 32 safety issues were identified. After implementing countermeasures for all of these safety issues, trial operation was complete.

Education and Drills for Disaster Prevention

Nippon Soda provides a variety of process safety and disaster prevention training for employees to acquire the knowledge and skills to ensure their safety. We will continue to promote safety and disaster prevention activities with the aim of further improving our safety and disaster prevention activities to achieve the target of “no major accidents at facilities.”

Group training

Each worksite and department conducts continuous education and training in accordance with the CSR action plan. Further, for new employees assigned to our manufacturing sites, we provide manufacturing training programs as a form of new employee training. These programs include experiential education and training related to safety and basic work practices.
In FY 2022, the programs were implemented on a limited basis while adjusting times and numbers of participants to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

• July 19–29, 2021: Takaoka Plant (practice) No. of participants: 17
• August 18–24, 2021 (temporarily cancelled due to number of infections)
  October 4–10, 2021: Takaoka Plant (first-year training) No. of participants: 6
• October 19–28, 2021: Takaoka Plant (second-year training) No. of participants: 5
• November 15–19, 2021: Nihongi Plant (first-year training) No. of participants: 6
• December 6–10, 2021: Nihongi Plant (second-year training [1]) No. of participants: 4
• December 13–17, 2021: Nihongi Plant (second-year training [2]) No. of participants: 5

Disaster prevention system working in cooperation with local communities

Each Nippon Soda site implements regular disaster drills, which include drills conducted in cooperation with other nearby plants and local governments. These drills are conducted taking into account the environment and other characteristics unique to each region so that they can be applied in real settings.

Comprehensive disaster drill
（Chiba Plant/Chiba Research Center, May 21, 2021）

Spring disaster drill
（Nihongi Plant, June 22, 2021）

Environmental abnormality response drill
（Takaoka Plant, October 13, 2021）

Education on firefighting techniques by the Takaoka Fire Department
（Takaoka Plant, October 29, 2021）

Autumn disaster drill
（Nihongi Plant, November 19, 2021）

Comprehensive disaster drill
（Chiba Plant/Chiba Research Center, November 25, 2021）

Joint in-plant disaster drill
（Mizushima Plant, December 2, 2021）

Joint Marine Disaster Management Council emergency report drill
（Chiba Plant, January 14, 2022）

Hazardous material (HCN) leak response drill
（Mizushima Plant, February 16, 2022）

Comprehensive disaster drill
（Chiba Plant/Chiba Research Center, February 17, 2022）

Comprehensive plant disaster drill
（Takaoka Plant, June 8, 2022）

Emergency Drills (FY 2022)

Accident Report

Anhydrous sulfuric acid leakage at delivery destination, Chiba Sales Office, Sanso Unyu Co., Ltd.

1. 1.Date/time of accident：July 19, 2021; around 9:00 am
2. 2.Accident overview
   Due to partial damage to the tank of a tank lorry carrying anhydrous sulfuric acid—which is manufactured and sold by Nisso Metallochemical Co., Ltd., and transported by Sanso Unyu Co., Ltd., the transportation department of Sanwa Soko Co., Ltd.—the product leaked on the customer’s factory premises, generating a mist and abnormal odor. There were no personnel casualties or injuries, nor was there any negative impact to the environment outside the premises.
3. 3.Cause
   Partial damage to the tank of the tank lorry caused by age-related corrosion.
4. 4.Recurrence prevention measures
1. ①Manufacture of new tanks
   We reviewed tank materials and created a new tank that is resistant to corrosion.
2. ②Implementation of risk assessments
   We will implement risk assessments to reduce the risk of leakage in every process from the shipment of anhydrous sulfuric acid to delivery.
3. ③Review of tank inspection methods
   We have reviewed and strengthened our inspection methods for both our existing tanks and new tanks. (Inspection of tank thickness [annually], installation of inspection openings in the relevant areas, inspection of tank pressure prior to filling, etc.)

Nisso Metallochemical, Sanwa Soko, and Sanso Unyu will work together to rebuild their emergency support system and create a response manual that anticipates leakage to ensure quick and accurate sharing of information. Further, the three companies will also carry out annual leakage drills to ensure accurate actions and procedures in the event of a leak.

Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

Basic concept of the BCP

In the event of a natural disaster such as a large-scale earthquake or other crisis that can result in serious damage to Company worksites, our social responsibility is to ensure the safety of local residents, full-time and temporary employees and partner company employees. Based on this concept, the principles of the BCP are defined as follows:

1. 1.The highest priority is placed on checking the status and ensuring the safety of Nippon Soda’s own employees, partner company employees and temporary employees and their families, and ensuring the safety of residents in communities where the Company’s business sites are located.
2. 2.The consciousness of serving the public and community is shared among all personnel throughout the Company.
3. 3.Efforts are focused on protecting the safety of the affected Head Office, plants, research centers, branch offices and sales offices.
4. 4.Measures should be taken to establish a system that allows Nippon Soda’s employees, partner company employees and temporary employees who are engaged in ensuring safety and security to act flexibly and at their discretion according to the circumstances.

Continuation of supply of products according to customer needs

The BCP of Nippon Soda aims to ensure, in the event of a natural disaster or other crisis, safety as well as the supply of products to customers as requested. To achieve this objective, improvement is accelerated using the PDCA cycle.