Environmental Report 2019
Chemical Substance Management
Improving Chemical Substance Management
In consideration of workers’ safety and health, and looking to lower environmental impact, we are working to improve the management of chemical substances. We will present examples of our initiatives.Streamlining the system for chemical substance registration
First, we will explain chemical substance registration.
In the environmental safety assessment, our internal preliminary assessment system, we not only assess new chemical substances, but also the installation of production equipment, construction, waste discharge, and non-regular work that is considered a safety problem. Regarding the use of chemical substances, we will create our own “Chemical Substance Safety Form” that contains transportation, storage, handling, disposal and other required information, and conduct assessments.
Procurement only takes place after passing the assessment and registering.
(See the figure below)
New chemical substance preliminary assessment flow based on environmental safety assessment
At JAE, environmental safety assessments including risk assessments were put into electronic format in fiscal 2017, and we began making practical use of them from April 2018.
Through digitization, assessment efficiency was improved, and quick registration of chemical substances is expected in the future.
Reduction of Chemical Substances
Monitoring registration of chemical substance product typesChange in the number of chemical substance product types at production sites in Japan is as visualized in the below graph. The reason that the JAE site has more chemical substances than other production sites is because it is not only involved in production, but is also a development plant and uses chemical substances for testing. The JAE Group monitors whether unnecessary chemical substances have been registered so that the number registered does not increase any further. The Group will move aggressively to reduce the volume of chemical substances used, as shown below.
- JAE:
- Reduced the amount of deposited gold needed for gold plating
Reduced registered substances by rationalizing production, and reduced substitutes and organic solvents
- HAE:
- Reduced chemical substances by reviewing the renewal frequency of continuous gold plating
Reduced usage of degreasing chemicals
Reduced injection chemicals used in plating waste liquid disposal
- YAE:
- Reduced the amount of parts cleaner purchases
- SAE:
- Reduced acetone and IPA usage
PRTR Data
The graph below shows the change in the amount of chemicals subject to the PRTR Law (*use cursor to view definitions) that was used by production sites in Japan.To deal with PRTR-designated chemical substances, we will continue to reduce the amount of 1-bromopropane used as a cleaning agent by using recycled products and repeatedly using them.
VOC Information
The total volume of chemical emissions of VOCs (use cursor to view definition) and related substances for production sites in Japan is shown in the graph below. VOC emissions increased due to an increase in production using ethanol as a cleaning agent at SAE. To reduce emissions, we will further improve container sealing and re-examine the amount handled.