Head office members take central roles in the Risk Management Committee, with the President serving as the Chairman. The Committee selects and shares a wide range of risks to the functions of the head office and each business unit respectively in order to promote activities. Through reports at management meetings and regular reviews carried out by senior management, we assure the implementation of PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), for risk management in full coordination with management.

The emergency center was formed during and after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and deployed activities according to the status of each business unit. No buildings or facilities sustained serious damage and the safety of all the employees was confirmed, however, the impact of lifeline disruptions made us realize that there was room for improvement. In light of the lessons learned and reflections on the disaster, we are continuing to make improvements to ensure that the management system is more effective and efficient.

In production facilities, we manage risks to prevent production interruption, aiming to continuously offer products even in an emergency situation. The examples of risk management are operational improvements at the local-working level, fundamental improvement which requires equipment investment, and adoption of seismic isolation in new factory constructions. Because we employed the seismic isolation, our buildings and facilities did not sustain any serious damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The earthquake disaster caused unexpected problems derived from external factor, including the planned power outage, fuel supply shortage and retarded distribution. We will keep working on strengthening the business continuity.

In case of an emergency, the "10-Minute Rule & 2-Hour Rule" promotes rapid communication between employees and top-level management. This rule requires that any event with potential corporate risk must be notified to the President within ten minutes if it occurs in the head office, or within two hours if it occurs outside the head office. Since speedy reporting is given the first priority, we welcome all reports even though the initial content is not sufficient.

Japan sites have been preparing water, food, bedding and other emergency supplies. On the day the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck, we ensured evacuation shelters not only for our employees but also for visitors and clients inside SII buildings. We provided emergency supplies and allowed everyone to temporarily stay on company premises until public transportation services resumed. In addition, emergency supplies were effectively disseminated to affected SII group sites in the Tohoku region.