Occupational Health

The Mitsui Chemicals Group has set forth the promoting of the happiness and fulfillment of employees in the Corporate Mission. We believe that “healthy employees lead to the happiness of the employees and their family, bringing greater work value and joy. This establishes the foundation of the Group and contributes to the local community and the sustainable growth of society.” Based on this belief, the Mitsui Chemicals Group has adopted the following as its vision: “To engage in health-focused management that autonomously promotes occupational health and worker health by enhancing tangible measures, such as improving work environments and facilities where employees can maintain good health at work, and enabling employees to pursue intangible measures that focus on health management and promotion.”
We have established our company rules (occupational health regulations) that set out the basic provisions for occupational health. Founded on the basic philosophy that employee well-being is directly linked to the Company's well-being, we are actively involved in occupational health measures that include health management to prevent work-related diseases, and creating good working environments that are adapted to our employees, as well as supporting our employees in their individual activities to maintain their well-being.

We promote good health management among employees via activities such as medical examinations and health guidance carried out by occupational physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Since 2008, we have been conducting comprehensive medical check-ups for employees (combining regular medical examinations with special medical check-ups and cancer screening), with a coverage in fiscal 2023 of nearly 100% for regular medical check-ups, nearly 100% for lung cancer screening, approx. 84% for colon cancer, approx. 60% for gastric cancer, approx. 70% for abdominal ultrasound scans, approx. 90% for prostate cancer screening, approx. 58% for breast cancer, and approx. 60% for uterine cervical cancer screening.

The results are managed by the Health Management Department, which is responsible for explaining the need for more detailed examinations to employees who require them and encouraging employees to undergo further examinations by medical specialists. The results of detailed examinations are reported either to the employee in question or to the Health Management Department in the form of a letter received in response to the letter of recommendation. In fiscal 2023, 74% of cancers were identified through these examinations, and about 80% of all cancers detected were found to be treatable.
In addition, to encourage employees to voluntarily manage their health and raise health awareness, stool antigen tests for helicobacter pylori bacteria are conducted for those who wish to undergo the test early in their employment. Upon becoming aware of their own risks in this way, employees continue to be screened (gastric cancer risk screening) as often as they want (once a year is the most frequent) by their chosen method (endoscopy or barium-meal test).

The index used to indicate the state of health of its employees shows that Mitsui Chemicals had a figure of 8.0% or less for lifestyle-related diseases in fiscal 2030, and the index is being carefully monitored. Continuing in fiscal 2023, we continued health improvement activities by offering medical examination follow-up guidance and health guidance, encouraging health examinations, and providing online access. As a result of these measures, blood pressure, glucose tolerance, and cholesterol results are controlled at low levels. Unfortunately, however, the prevalence of severe obesity is increasing, and we will continue our efforts to improve health risks through health guidance, educational activities, and exercise programs. As traditional group education has become challenging because teleworking and the introduction of hot desking through work style reform have increased as measures to prevent infection since the outbreak of COVID-19, we will continue to promote health awareness and exercise habits through distributing online health promotion materials and increasing walking events using apps and the like.

The ratio of smokers has decreased by more than 10 percentage points compared to a decade ago and is gradually falling year by year. The Health Management Department will continue to lead the Company in giving support to employees who want to quit smoking, while providing smoking rooms to curb exposure to secondhand smoke. Each business site has begun taking action to ban smoking on Company premises or during work hours, including lunch breaks, by fiscal 2025 to protect the health of our employees.

We continue to help balance work and disease treatment with the support of occupational physicians. We offer a health consultation and guidance for employees who are worried about their illness, such as not knowing the best action to take or when they are unable to fully understand the explanations of the doctor, etc. If some special working arrangement is required for an employee, we discuss with the workplace and Human Resource Division to suit the requirements of the situation. 

As our support systems have also been enhanced, it is no longer uncommon for employees to continue working during strong treatment, including for cancer. We also revised the Guidebook to Help Balance Work and Medical Treatment by compiling related information and concrete examples. The up-to-date book was published on the internal bulletin board to make it accessible to employees whenever they need it.

At our overseas bases, our occupational physicians go overseas every year to make the rounds, conducting health interviews with all employees working overseas, including their families if they so desire. Until the first half of fiscal 2022, we were responding online and by e-mail due to the spread of COVID-19, but in the second half of the year, we resumed overseas patrols and conducted in-person interviews. We continue to provide information regarding infection and health improvements.

Mental health can also have a significant influence on work performance, and is an important part of maintaining the health of employees. With the wider spread of teleworking and changes in the social environment, mental health care has also become increasingly important. Upon formulating VISION 2030, Mitsui Chemicals has defined the “frequency of absences from work due to mental health disorders,” which we have been monitoring, as one of our management metrics and set the target frequency for fiscal 2030 to be 0.25. Although the number of new cases of mental illness decreased in fiscal 2023, the percentage of those with six months or more of absence from work increased, pushing up the overall number of days of absence from work. This also increased the overall frequency of absences from work due to health disorders. We will continue to support their recovery and return to work through various training programs (e.g., self-care training for new employees, managers, line managers, etc.), interviews with occupational physicians, counseling, and stress surveys, while steadily promoting improvements in the workplace environment.

In fiscal 2023, face-to-face interviews and consultations were conducted in consideration of infection risk reduction and working conditions, while continuing to utilize online video calls. In addition, creative ways of working are becoming more widespread at each workplace thanks to the use of the results of stress surveys conducted last year and the year before (including a summary of the effects of telework on the mind and body and key points of health management during telework), good practices (sharing of presentations and examples of specific improvements made at workplaces), and telework guides for employees, which are posted on the intranet.

In addition to training, e-learning on communication is provided to new hires (not only new graduates, but also career and temporary hires). For two years after entering the Company, we also continue to provide appropriate support. Occupational physicians, etc., interview all new employees every six months to determine the status regarding their lifestyle, health, communications with their supervisor, and colleagues, and provide advice as needed. We have started offering online counseling to make it easier to take advantage of counseling services.
In addition, inclusion study sessions have also been held. These sessions aim to create a culture to accept people with diverse characteristics and personalities, as well as those in the course of illness treatment, into workplaces.

Starting in fiscal 2021, we opened a personal portal site (MCI Health Navi) to provide each employee with their own medical examination results, notification, etc. In addition to being able to check the results of each individual's medical checkup online on MCI Health Navi, users can also check information based on their medical checkup results and work history, graphs to confirm changes based on past test data, links recommended to obtain necessary information according to individual findings, recommendations to take medical examinations, and notifications regarding healthcare guidance, etc. The introduction of this system has also enabled more prompt delivery of health checkup results and reduction of paper resources such as printed checkup results and envelopes.

In addition, we conduct health literacy surveys to assess the ability to understand and utilize the immense variety of health information available for the maintenance and promotion of employee health. The survey includes questions on the extent to which the results of the medical checkups are confirmed, as well as on what to do if there are items in the medical checkups that require medical attention. This will make it easier for us to grasp the current health literacy of our employees, thereby helping to foster health awareness and improve health literacy among employees.

The illness/accident allowances have been decreasing since fiscal 2015; however, they have slightly increased since fiscal 2018 due to an increase in the number of days of leave taken by those suffering from mental health issues. Illness/accident allowances in fiscal 2023 were 87% of the fiscal 2008 levels, and although they continue to increase, they show a long-term decrease for cancer and cardiovascular diseases. There was also an overall decline in fiscal 2023 when compared to the Mitsui Chemicals Health Insurance Society.

The legal benefit cost (medical care cost) per capita for both Mitsui Chemicals Health Insurance Society and the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies increased for three years in a row in 2023. The Mitsui Chemicals Health Insurance Society was able to control the rate of increase to about 48% compared to general health insurance associations when the legal benefit cost (medical care cost) per capita insured by Mitsui Chemicals Health Insurance Society and the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies is viewed as an index with fiscal 2008 as 100. These show the comprehensive effects of our health management, and we will continue to strengthen measures to promote employee health in the years to come.