Workplace Health and Safety
Workplace Safety
Occupational Health and Safety Management System / Sinon-Productive-Management(SNPM)
Since 2005, the Company has been implementing comprehensive production management activities, adopting the SNPM (Sinon-Productive-Management) system, and gradually aligning with international standards. We have strengthened our management system framework, establishing systematic mechanisms for environmental protection and occupational health and safety management. This implementation encompasses employees, contractors, and subcontractors.
The Company's factories have obtained valid international certifications for relevant activities, including the design and production of synthetic pesticide technical, pesticide formulation and fertilizers at the Wang-Tien Factory area, which have been certified under ISO 45001/CNS 45001:2018 Occupational Safety and Health Management System. When employees have safety concerns of the workplace, it is stipulated in the Company's safety and health work rules that “when discover immediate danger during performing of duties, one may under the circumstance that it is not dangerous and it is safe for other workers, stop work by themselves and leave to move to a safe place”. The reporting procedures for the occupational hazard and dangerous situation have also established. Workers can report to their direct supervisors immediately.
The Company's factories have obtained valid international certifications for relevant activities, including the design and production of synthetic pesticide technical, pesticide formulation and fertilizers at the Wang-Tien Factory area, which have been certified under ISO 45001/CNS 45001:2018 Occupational Safety and Health Management System. When employees have safety concerns of the workplace, it is stipulated in the Company's safety and health work rules that “when discover immediate danger during performing of duties, one may under the circumstance that it is not dangerous and it is safe for other workers, stop work by themselves and leave to move to a safe place”. The reporting procedures for the occupational hazard and dangerous situation have also established. Workers can report to their direct supervisors immediately.
Health and Safety Committee
Under the leadership of the senior executives, the General Manager shall regularly convene the relevant supervisors and staff elected members to hold the “OH&S Committee and SNPM Promotion Meeting” to discuss safety and health issues and suggestions. The Construction & HSE management Department shall coordinate the promotion of occupational safety management, conduct various business operations and regularly audit the safety and health implementation of each unit, and communicates safety and health policies and information.
When employees have any suggestions related to occupational health and safety issues, they can fill out the “Environment, Safety and Health Opinion Form” at any time and send it to the Construction & HSE management Department. The Construction & HSE management Department will coordinate related unit for handling of the issue; Vendors can raise suggestions during the Coordination Group Meeting. Any matters responded by the employee or vendor will be reported to the “OH&S Committee and SNPM Promotion Committee” for deliberations. Senior managers regularly conduct “Six Rules Conversations” face-to-face with on-site personnel. In addition to conveying corporate governance concepts and safety and health-related information, they can also directly listen to employees’ ideas and achieve the most effective communication and exchange.
The issues discussed during the meetings of the “OH&S Committee and SNPM Promotion Committee” include safety and health educational training, self-inspections and safety and health audit matters, health management and health promotion, incidents investigations, vendor management, hazards prevention measures and so on items. On items that require improvement, the Committee charges related unit to complete the improvements within a limited period, or to establish the safety and health management plan to be listed as a project for tracking the improvement progress. A total of 4 Committee meetings (including the management review meetings) have been convened in 2023.
Zhangbin Plant arranges weekly and monthly communication and discussion meetings related to occupational safety and health, and holds meetings from time to time to communicate safety and health issues in response to various issues.
When employees have any suggestions related to occupational health and safety issues, they can fill out the “Environment, Safety and Health Opinion Form” at any time and send it to the Construction & HSE management Department. The Construction & HSE management Department will coordinate related unit for handling of the issue; Vendors can raise suggestions during the Coordination Group Meeting. Any matters responded by the employee or vendor will be reported to the “OH&S Committee and SNPM Promotion Committee” for deliberations. Senior managers regularly conduct “Six Rules Conversations” face-to-face with on-site personnel. In addition to conveying corporate governance concepts and safety and health-related information, they can also directly listen to employees’ ideas and achieve the most effective communication and exchange.
The issues discussed during the meetings of the “OH&S Committee and SNPM Promotion Committee” include safety and health educational training, self-inspections and safety and health audit matters, health management and health promotion, incidents investigations, vendor management, hazards prevention measures and so on items. On items that require improvement, the Committee charges related unit to complete the improvements within a limited period, or to establish the safety and health management plan to be listed as a project for tracking the improvement progress. A total of 4 Committee meetings (including the management review meetings) have been convened in 2023.
Zhangbin Plant arranges weekly and monthly communication and discussion meetings related to occupational safety and health, and holds meetings from time to time to communicate safety and health issues in response to various issues.
Building a Safety Culture / Improvement through the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) Cycle Method
To achieve the goals of zero hazards, the Company combines ISO management system with SNPM (Sinon-Productive-Management) activities and make continuous improvement through the Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) cycle method. It strengthens the internal management with 6S as the foundation and the QC technique, and through the various forms of self-inspection, team review meetings, diagnosis audit, the “OH&S Committee and SNPM Promotion Committee”
meetings, and so forth on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. This is to assure the company’s safety and health and policy is implemented for the operations activities. It is anticipated to improve the employee safety awareness further, to effectively control risks and to shape the corporate safety culture.
meetings, and so forth on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. This is to assure the company’s safety and health and policy is implemented for the operations activities. It is anticipated to improve the employee safety awareness further, to effectively control risks and to shape the corporate safety culture.
The demands and expectations of stakeholders
- In concert with the government directions, strengthen advocacy to the employees, join safety and health related activities organized by competent authority, and to discuss, communicate the safety and health issues and suggestions during the
- “OH&S Committee and SNPM Promotion Committee” meetings for continuous improvement.
- Participate in disaster drills and training with external stakeholders such as the Taichung City Government and Taiwan Responsible Care Association (TRCA).
- Near-miss reported by employees 600 cases, 4RKY (disaster prediction) educational trainings 220 cases.
- Held safety and health education and training for 6,173 people in Wang-Tien Factory area and 637 people in Zhangbin Plant, for a total of 6,810 people.
- Continue to improve the comfort and safety of wearing personal protective equipment (improvements are made to helmets, pads, face shields, and earmuffs)
- Completed the annual employee physical and health checkups with a coverage of 100%.
- Organize 4 accident investigations statistical education trainings.
Identification of laws and regulations, and amendments to the safety and health process standards
- Conduct identification of laws and regulations every quarter, and through internal and external audits/inspections, inspect every standard work procedure. This is to ensure a correct safety work standard for compliance by the employees. Annual increase and amendment to the EHS handbook, 15 management procedures guides, 4 work standard guides, and 26 forms.
Management of machinery, equipment, or instrument
- The machinery, equipment, instrument in the factory and the workplace fall under the self-inspections process. Regularly organize routine inspection, regular inspection, key inspection, operation inspection, daily safety patrol by the responsible managers of every jurisdiction and monitoring of audits.
- Build equipment maintenance history and record the maintenance items, reasons and so on, compile statistics on the maintenance frequency to develop predictive maintenance.
- Conduct safety inspection for dangerous machinery and equipment in accordance with the laws and regulations.
Risks identification and evaluation
- Regular evaluation of risk hazards at the workplace by each unit and to propose the goals and management plans for reducing the grade level of the risk hazard. There are 20 improvement plans proposed for the year
Chemical management
- SNPM (Sinon-Productive-Management) activities regular patrol inspection of factory for the labels of the containers.
- Confirm the SDS contents and execute chemical CCB grade level management every year.
- Complete the toxic chemicals handling records, toxic substances release amount record application, priority chemicals filing, restricted chemicals filing, and the dangerous articles filing within the time limit stipulated by the regulations.
Monitoring of the workplace and EHS
- Conduct Workplace Environment Measurement (WEM) for carbon dioxide, designated chemical substances, organic solvents, dust, noise, and Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). The annual inspection is qualified.
Emergency response measures
- Cooperated with the Taichung City Government in participating in “National Defense Mobilization and Disaster Prevention and Rescue (Min’an No. 9) Exercise”. The drills included harassment and attack by unmanned aerial vehicles and massive leakage of dimethyl sulfate toxic chemical storage tank.
- Together with the Fourth Brigade of the Taichung City Government Fire Department, conduct the “Toxic and Chemical Disaster Fire Fighting Drill” lecture, rehearsal and actual drill at Wang-Tien Factory area.
- Participated in the on-site training of “Southern Region Chemical Disaster Emergency Response Training Center” by the Taiwan Responsible Care Association (TRCA).
Internal inspection
- The Construction & HSE management Department conducts monthly SNPM (Sinon-Productive-Management) activities management (unannounced inspection). 600 items failed to pass the annual internal inspection in Wang-Tien Factory area and 80 items failed to pass the annual internal inspection in Zhangbin Plant. The improvement achievement rate was 100% in both cases.
Health Promotion
The Construction & HSE management Department, Human Resource Department, occupational medicine physician and occupational health nurse jointly promote the employee health promotion matters. There is one medical room at the Wang-Tien Factory area equipped with emergency medical supplies and equipment. An emergency rescue box is installed at every unit to benefit employees for use when needed. To increase the emergency rescue safety quality, apart from establishing emergency rescue personnel based on the number of persons in the company and the type of work, there are the medical oxygen cylinders and automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) installed onsite. All employees of the factory will have to participate in the CPR+AED practice drills as part of the workplace safety emergency rescue system.
New employees need to undergo the general physical checkup before reporting to work. In-service employees undergo one free health checkup each year for all job levels. Special physical checkup will be arranged for special work operators. In addition, for employees who meet the cancer screening conditions, they will be encouraged to take the screening for oral cancer, colorectal cancer, female cervical cancer, and female breast cancer at the same time when they are going to undergo the health checkup.
According to the health checkup results each year, statistics for comparison of abnormal rate and abnormal items for each unit will be compiled. There will be tracking and followups for employees with high health risks. The individual abnormal items will be divided into grade levels to facilitate management and follow-ups. The occupational medicine physician and occupational health nurse will conduct the individual health guidance and interview, in concert with every half a year workplace environment measurement data for research. This can enable a better understanding of the hazard factors and for proposal of preventive educational training plan assisting employees for a better health management.
In addition to health guidance and interview, the workplace health promotion seminars are also organized inviting related medical experts and occupational specialists. We are committed to promoting the knowledge and importance of chronic disease prevention, quitting smoking and betel nuts, cancer prevention, cardiovascular disease prevention, metabolic disease and obesity prevention, and occupational disease prevention to enhance employees’ health awareness.
In 2023, organized the health promotion activities. A total of 1,271 persons participated. Main topics include:
New employees need to undergo the general physical checkup before reporting to work. In-service employees undergo one free health checkup each year for all job levels. Special physical checkup will be arranged for special work operators. In addition, for employees who meet the cancer screening conditions, they will be encouraged to take the screening for oral cancer, colorectal cancer, female cervical cancer, and female breast cancer at the same time when they are going to undergo the health checkup.
According to the health checkup results each year, statistics for comparison of abnormal rate and abnormal items for each unit will be compiled. There will be tracking and followups for employees with high health risks. The individual abnormal items will be divided into grade levels to facilitate management and follow-ups. The occupational medicine physician and occupational health nurse will conduct the individual health guidance and interview, in concert with every half a year workplace environment measurement data for research. This can enable a better understanding of the hazard factors and for proposal of preventive educational training plan assisting employees for a better health management.
In addition to health guidance and interview, the workplace health promotion seminars are also organized inviting related medical experts and occupational specialists. We are committed to promoting the knowledge and importance of chronic disease prevention, quitting smoking and betel nuts, cancer prevention, cardiovascular disease prevention, metabolic disease and obesity prevention, and occupational disease prevention to enhance employees’ health awareness.
In 2023, organized the health promotion activities. A total of 1,271 persons participated. Main topics include:
| Educational seminar | Health consultation | Health checkup activities |
|---|---|---|
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Occupational Hazard Prevention
The Company has established accident investigation procedures for accidents and near-misses. Through notification, investigation, review/improvement, and advocacy, the Company aims to prevent accidents or near-misses from happening again. Each unit reports accidents or false alarms according to established procedures. Following this, the causes are analyzed, and improvement measures are devised. Before implementing these measures, a risk assessment should be conducted. Control measures to reduce risk are then prioritized based on elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment, taking existing technological capabilities and available resources into account. Improvement is continuously driven through goals and management plans. In terms of communication, in addition to internal publicity in each unit, the Construction & HSE management Department also conducts accident investigation education and training for all employees in the plant every quarter. In 2023, a total of 4 accidents and false alarms were publicized.
In 2023, a total of 4 accidents and near-miss were publicized. In 2023, there were no employee disabling injuries (Note) and no occupational diseases occurred in the Company's Wang-Tien Factory area (Wang-Tien Factory, Wang-Tien 2nd Factory, Biological Factory, Da-Du Factory) and Zhangbin Plant.
Note: Disability injuries are defined in accordance with relevant occupational safety and health laws and regulations, and refer to the number of injuries to workers resulting from occupational disasters such as death, permanent total disability, permanent partial disability, and temporary total disability
In 2023, a total of 4 accidents and near-miss were publicized. In 2023, there were no employee disabling injuries (Note) and no occupational diseases occurred in the Company's Wang-Tien Factory area (Wang-Tien Factory, Wang-Tien 2nd Factory, Biological Factory, Da-Du Factory) and Zhangbin Plant.
Note: Disability injuries are defined in accordance with relevant occupational safety and health laws and regulations, and refer to the number of injuries to workers resulting from occupational disasters such as death, permanent total disability, permanent partial disability, and temporary total disability
