The Hodogaya Chemical Group supports the International Bill of Human Rights, which stipulates the fundamental human rights that all people throughout the world should enjoy, and regards it as a foundation for conducting its business activities.
We have identified “Respect for Human Rights” as one of the key principles in our Sustainability Policy, and, in accordance with the Corporate Action Guidelines and Compliance Action Policy—which incorporate the contents of the United Nations “”Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights”” and “”Children’s Rights and Business Principles””—we comply with applicable laws and regulations, act with a high sense of ethics and sound judgment, respect the diversity, personality, and individuality of all people working within the Hodogaya Chemical Group, and strive to ensure a healthy and comfortable working environment free from discrimination and harassment, while also paying close attention to ensuring respect for human rights throughout our supply chain.
The Hodogaya Chemical Group formulated the Human Rights Policy as part of its Sustainability Policy.
The Hodogaya Chemical Group regards respect for human rights as the basis of its business activities and ensures the following listed items in accordance with the Corporate Action Guidelines, Compliance Action Policy, and Procurement Policy, while also paying close attention to respect for human rights regarding partner companies.
The Hodogaya Chemical Group identifies human rights risks that may arise through its operations.
We are conducting education and training, upgrading workplace environments and systems, and engaging in supply chain management to address human rights risks and as preventative measures against identified risks.
We will continue to engage in dialog and hold discussions with related stakeholders.
We also closely monitor these activities to ascertain the effectiveness of preventive measures and to promote improvements on a continuous basis.
We regularly conduct surveys of partner companies using the Procurement Guidelines Implementation Status Survey Sheet as part of efforts to monitor the supply chain and to confirm whether compliance items are properly implemented.
In addition, we work to improve activities to deepen mutual understanding while building mutual trust with our partner companies.
A grievance mechanism is in place to detect and address risks related to human rights.
As part of our annual compliance training for all officers and personnel, we provide explanations of the UN Guiding Principles on “Business and Human Rights”, and education on harassment prevention and available consultation channels, thereby ensuring a workplace environment that respects human rights.
The training also covers the need for corporate human-rights initiatives and their impact on business activities, including both the positive effects of sufficient initiatives and the negative effects of insufficient initiatives, with concrete examples illustrating potential adverse outcomes.
The Corporate Action Guidelines clearly include respect for the personality and individuality of employees, and our basic stance in the Compliance Action Policy clearly emphasizes respect for human rights and the prohibition of discrimination. With these policies, forced labor and child labor are not accepted within the Hodogaya Chemical Group.
We have established a Human Resources Management Policy for hiring, assignment, transfer, education, training, and evaluation, ensuring a discrimination-free human resource system.
A comprehensive system to prevent harassment that could infringe on human rights—including power harassment, sexual harassment, maternity harassment, and harassment related to childcare or nursing care leave—has been established. Clear prohibitions are outlined in our Corporate Policy and Employment Regulations, and consultation channels and other measures are implemented in accordance with our Harassment Prevention Regulations and manual.
We are actively working to promote employee health and safety, including initiatives for health management and work-life balance. For more details, please refer to the Human Resources page.
Handling personal information appropriately is also considered an important measure to respect human rights. We have established and published the Policy on the Protection of Personal Information, along with the Personal Information Management Rules, the Designated Personal Information Management Rules, and the Health Information Management Rules. We comply with relevant laws and regulations concerning personal information, personal numbers, and health information, and ensure proper storage, use, and management within the scope stipulated by these policies and rules.
In addition, measures have been implemented to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the protection of personal data in the EU and other European Economic Area countries.
As a result of these efforts, in FY2024 the Hodogaya Chemical Group did not experience any human-rights violations. This was reported to the Board of Directors.
We established a Procurement Policy and Procurement Guidelines, and basic contracts with business partners include compliance with the Procurement Guidelines as a requirement.
We ask our business partners to understand the guidelines and to take measures regarding human rights in line with the Hodogaya Chemical Group’s practices.
The Procurement Guidelines include items for human rights and labor compliance such as prohibiting forced labor, prohibiting inhumane treatment, prohibiting child labor, prohibiting discrimination, ensuring appropriate wages, and regulating working hours.
These policies ensure that forced labor and child labor are not permitted within the supply chain.
For business partners with transactions above a certain threshold, we regularly conduct surveys using the Procurement Guidelines Implementation Status Survey Sheet to verify that the compliance items are properly implemented. In FY2024, all responding business partners were confirmed to be compliant.
The Hodogaya Chemical Group is also striving for responsible mineral resource procurement. We do not handle conflict minerals that are sources of funding for human rights violations or armed groups.
We have established an internal reporting window based on our internal reporting system. Employees are informed about the system during company training, and the status of internal reports is reported to the Audit & Supervisory Committee.
In FY2024, one report was made.
Business partners and customers are asked to use the “Other Inquiries” form on the website.”