Occupational Safety and Health Management
Initiatives
Occupational Safety and Health
Prevention of Workplace Accidents
In 2023, serious occupational accidents requiring time off work at Canon Inc. and Group companies in Japan comprised one case relating to use of machinery (getting pinched or caught). There were no accidents caused by hazardous chemical substances. We are taking steps to prevent accidents from reoccurring, in terms of both education and equipment, such as investigating the underlying cause of any accident, retraining workplace personnel, and improving the operability of machinery. We conduct a thorough safety inspection and risk assessment to determine if similar risks exist at the site where any accident occurs. In addition, information about accidents is promptly shared with Group companies, particularly production sites, to prevent similar occurrences elsewhere.
Promoting Effective Operation of Canon Group Occupational Safety and Health Management System
We are expanding the Canon Group Occupational Safety and Health Management System in an effort to promote autonomous safety and health activities across countries and regions. System requirements are based on the Occupational Safety and Health Management System of the Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association and reflect Canon Inc.’s standards and rules. We are also working to cultivate best practices across all sites based on reciprocal supervision as well as develop measures to tackle a variety of issues.
Canon sites are currently transitioning from the international OHS management system standard OHSAS 18001 to the new ISO 45001 standard. As of the end of December 2023, approximately 31% of Canon Inc. and Canon Group sites around the world had acquired ISO 45001 certification.
| ISO 45001 Certifications（407kB） |
Entrenchment of Risk Assessments and Promotion of Effective Use
Canon conducts risk assessments for all installed machinery and related operations based on common Group-wide standards. For all operations with high risk of injury, illness, or accident, we take appropriate risk mitigation measures and manage any residual risk. Recognizing the especially serious risks posed by machinery-related accidents, we review existing equipment at least once a year. For new businesses, we also identify and evaluate risks from the R&D stage and implement OHS measures based on risk assessment outcomes.
To ensure common standards are applied to risk assessment across the Canon Group, we provide online learning programs for workplace managers and employees with responsibility for equipment operations to deepen their understanding of assessment methods. In addition, if a specific risk is identified, all relevant workers are notified of the risk and given the requisite training, including steps to confirm understanding and mastery of any new work processes.
Improving Health and Safety Awareness by Enhancing Education and Training
Whenever an occupational accident occurs at Canon, we immediately brief all operational sites in Japan and overseas production sites, as well as publish the causes and countermeasures on our intranet to prevent a similar accident from occurring elsewhere.
To help eliminate workplace accidents, we also provide training to managers involved in on-site workplace risk assessment, along with online learning programs to ensure all employees involved with risk assessments have a good understanding of assessment objectives and procedures. A total of 8,801 people received such training up to and including 2023.
In addition, we are also taking steps to foster a workplace culture that is constantly aware of health and safety. For example, at Canon Inc. and Group companies in Japan, we provide health and safety training and use original awareness-raising posters and leaflets to educate employees about checking and enforcing basic safety behaviors in their work.
Canon is working to implement an occupational safety and health management system overseas, mainly at its production sites, on the same level as in Japan. For example, to help employees understand health and safety matters in their native language, we make effective use of work manuals, health and safety training materials, posters, leaflets, and other materials prepared by Canon Inc. in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Vietnamese to suit the situation of each site. For example, at Canon Vietnam, we are making a focused effort to promote activities for early prevention of hazards by raising employees’ health and safety awareness. These include an experiential training facility called the Safety Experience Ring that enables trainees to experience the importance of safety through simulated hazard experiences, as well as risk assessment activities and a program for sharing improvement proposals based on on-site experience.
Health Management
Mental Health-Related Measures
Canon conducts a variety of programs to promote comprehensive mental health at Group companies in Japan. These incorporate four types of care: self-care, care from workplace supervisors, care from occupational health staff, and care from external organizations. There are also programs to promote primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. Specific measures include illness recovery and return-to-work support programs, and training programs to help HR and health management personnel build the relevant skills.
The stress check participation rate is high at Canon Inc., reaching 95.4% in 2023. In addition to check-ups with an occupational physician, any employees showing signs of high stress receive individualized health consultations. The results of grouped data analysis are distributed to management in the form of a “Health Report” detailing the health status of each division. We also organize related worksite meetings. The completion rate for online mental health training for managers, which is aimed at enhancing workplace support capabilities, was over 90% of all eligible participants in 2023.
Lifestyle Disease Prevention
We identify the priority health areas and steps based on an analysis of employee data. Lack of sleep, smoking, rapid eating and other factors have been identified as priority areas because analysis of physical exam data has linked them with the onset of metabolic syndrome. For sleep, besides activities to raise awareness, we have also introduced individual guidance using sleep monitors. This helped not only to improve sleep, but also physical exam results and presenteeism (working even while sick). Smoking is banned inside workplaces at Canon Inc. and all Group companies in Japan, and we provide seminars and online programs to help employees quit smoking. As part of our comprehensive program to prevent serious illness, all employees at Canon Inc. and Group companies in Japan receive an annual health check-up, together with personalized follow-up and educational measures based on a common quantitative standard and set of measures.
Based on cooperation with health insurance unions, the provision of health guidance from expert providers has resulted in a decline in the numbers of employees either at high risk of metabolic syndrome or subject to specific health guidance. To prevent and detect cancers, we utilize the cancer screening system of the Canon Health Insurance Union, while ensuring a balance between treatment and work for employees living with cancer.
Improving Health Literacy
We promote health self-management at Canon Inc. and Group companies in Japan in a range of ways, including conducting health campaigns on the themes of sleep, nutrition, and exercise; disseminating information regularly to raise awareness via the intranet; and using ICT tools to manage healthy activity goals and in-house events.
Canon’s campaigns to encourage exercise include regular seminars, along with an annual walking competition involving the use of ICT tools. We provide online learning programs tailored to different ranks and ages, including specific age- and gender-related information, plus an opt-in, points-based self-health management system. In addition, the Canon Health Call service provided by the health insurance union offers personal health support to Canon Group employees, including employees on overseas assignments and their families, on a 24/7 basis.
Canon Group companies outside Japan also conduct health support programs and initiatives tailored to the characteristics of each region. Canon USA, Inc. and Canon (China) Co., Ltd. are among the companies that organize mental health seminars by occupational physicians as part of efforts to raise awareness of various health issues.
Infectious Disease Prevention
The response of Canon Inc. to the COVID pandemic has focused on efforts to prevent infection, provide access to consultation, offer support to staff at higher risk, and share related information. Besides offering employees up to four COVID vaccination shots, we also provide annual access to vaccination against seasonal influenza. Canon Inc. provides training to staff traveling or being assigned overseas related to HIV, malaria, and other infectious diseases, based on information put out by the Quarantine Information Office of Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. In addition, the company also recommends various vaccinations depending on the destination country or region, based on information from both the Quarantine Information Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and covers the cost of such vaccinations.
Health Training for Contract Workers
With increasing rates of heat stroke occurring in both indoor and outdoor worksites throughout Japan, we provide ongoing training to contract workers on heat stroke prevention. We also take preventative measures in the workplace environment.
External Recognition
For five years in a row, from 2019 to 2023, Canon Inc. was selected as a “Health & Productivity Stock” under a scheme administered jointly by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). In addition, Canon has been certified for seven years in a row in the Large Organization category of the “White 500” Health & Productivity scheme jointly administered by METI and Nippon Kenko Kaigi. Our progressive health management approach, which is based on the “Health First” principle to which we have adhered since Canon’s earliest days, has received external recognition in these ways.
