Product

Product Safety

Each division of the Kuraray Group aims to ensure product safety in its day-to-day new product development and revisions of management (e.g. assessment of the safety and function of products where changes in raw materials and changes in production equipment and conditions are made). They do this by conducting assessments using various risk assessment methods and making improvements and realizing product safety and quality guarantee for the delivery to customers.

A committee centering on the Corporate Sustainability Division is organized in accordance with "Rule for Assessment Committee on Crucial Matter" to study products that require a company-wide study of safety and to verify product safety before developing and marketing. The products to be studied include those that are ingested in the body and that use nanomaterials. In fiscal 2020, regarding issues in the development or commercialization of products specified by these Rules, the Committee consisting of internal experts continued having discussions about the security and safety of customers, employees and consumers who handle the products, and an impact on the environment.

The Kuraray Group supplies customers, employees and consumers with these products that have passed an appropriate safety measure taken by the Committee where risk assessment and safety is discussed for individual division-specific issues.

Chemical Management

Against the backdrop of global initiatives such as the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), laws and regulations concerning chemicals have been revised in each country. To respond to these changes in the business environment in recent years, the Kuraray Group is taking the following measures in anticipation of a post-SAICM framework to ensure the safe use of its products.

Chemical Management System

The Kuraray Group in Japan has introduced an IT tools to manage chemical substances. We have linked chemical substance information on raw materials and products registered in the in-house database to external databases that contain information on laws and regulations and on safety information of chemical substances. In this way, we have settled a system to facilitate the acquisition of information on laws and regulations pertaining to use and on hazards and the preparation of safety data sheets (SDS), thereby supplying the necessary information to the customers.

Compliance with Chemical Laws and Regulations

In cooperation with overseas Group companies, we collect information on the status of revisions and operation of laws related to chemicals in each country, and we aim to establish a system that enables us to respond efficiently and reliably. We also provide regular opportunities to share information with those responsible for managing chemical substances in Japan and overseas, to deepen their understanding of laws and regulations in Japan and overseas, where the level of requirements is rising day by day, and to ensure thorough legal compliance.

In fiscal 2020, in addition to appropriately responding to domestic laws such as the Chemical Substances Control Law and the Industrial Safety and Health Act, we focused on compliance with overseas laws and regulations such as the pre-registration of the Turkish version of Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and the annual reporting system of the Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act in Taiwan, and we responded to the new chemical substance control regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Targets and Results in Product Safety and Chemical Management