January 25 is “Compliance Review Day.”

Hello everybody, each year on January 25th is Compliance Review Day.

For this year's 13th annual event, the Legal Department, Compliance Committee and the Quality Assurance Headquarters will jointly hold a lecture on Friday, January 24, at 3:00 pm.
This is in response to the fact that January 25 this year falls on a Saturday and will be held on the Friday before.
This will be the first time in a long time that we will be holding this meeting in person at the Komaki Head Office and Manufacturing Plants.
I look forward to communicating directly with everyone.

What is Compliance Review Day?

On January 25, 2012, our company in Matsusaka Plant and an employee were referred to prosecutors for violating the notification requirement under the Occupational Health and Safety Law.
The problems were that the company carried out construction work without notifying the authorities as required for facility modifications, prioritized production over compliance, and delayed reporting and responding to violations of laws and regulations even after becoming aware of them.
In order to keep the lessons learned from this experience alive, we have designated January 25 of each year as “Compliance Review Day” and have been working on improving our organizational culture to ensure that “Safety, Environment, Compliance, and Quality (S.E.C.Q.)” is reaffirmed and reinforced and that “Bad News First & Thanks” is practiced.

At this year's Compliance Review Day, Reiko Matsuda, Outside Audit & Supervisory Board Member, will give a presentation on the importance of reaffirming the significance of Compliance Review Day, building a system to prevent fraud in companies, including quality compliance, and addressing the critical issue of pursuing quality.
All directors, general managers, managers of functional departments, supervisors and designated Compliance Leaders of Sumitomo Riko and its domestic group companies are cordially invited to attend the seminar, either in person or remotely, starting at 3:00 p.m. today. (Due to the time difference, participation is optional for those from overseas group companies.)

We plan to post a video of the Compliance Review Day on the intranet at a later date, so those of you who cannot attend the day are encouraged to watch the video and learn more about compliance.

Reaffirming Compliance

Compliance is not just about observing laws and regulations.
Compliance is defined as the act of complying with laws, regulations, and internal rules, as well as acting ethically to meet the expectations and trust of society and stakeholders.
Society and laws and regulations are constantly changing, and companies that do not respond appropriately to these changes face the risk of legal violations and loss of public trust.
Sticking to conventional methods not only increases compliance risks but can also be a major obstacle to the survival and development of a company.
Therefore, we are required to keep abreast of the latest laws and regulations and social trends and to be flexible and responsive without being bound by past concepts.
Please ensure once again that the way you and your team proceed is consistent with current rules and values.

Bad News First & Thanks Practice Request and Reaffirmation of Whistleblower System

I have two requests.
The first is that I would like to ask all the supervisors to make daily communication with each other important.
Our Group has adopted “Bad News First & Thanks” as its compliance action guideline, and is working to reduce legal violations and create an open corporate culture throughout the Group by promptly sharing bad information, including compliance issues, between the frontlines and management.

For early detection and prevention of problems, the earlier Bad News is reported, the sooner we need to take action.
The longer the initial response is delayed, the greater the loss, and the more time and effort it takes to resolve the problem.
Unfortunately, in this year's survey, among those who said they couldn't do "Bad News First," the percentage of those who said the reason was "It is hard to tell your boss what you need to do so " was higher than last year's.
This indicates that there is an issue with the “Bad News Thanks” attitude of supervisors, who are the ones who receive the Bad News.
In order to encourage employees to “Bad News First,” I would like to encourage supervisors to take the initiative in practicing “Bad News Thanks” by valuing communication on a daily basis.
Another thing I would like to ask you to do is to make use of the whistle-blowing system.
One of the methods of Bad News First is the whistle-blowing system.
According to the results of this year's compliance survey, the number of respondents who answered that they do not know of a consultation service has decreased significantly.
However, it is also true that there are still some who say they are not ready to consult with us.
Why don't you start by talking to us a little?
Our team has the ability to overcome any difficult situations together.
By sharing issues early on, the entire team can come up with a solution, which opens up the possibility of a major improvement in the situation.
And each step we take is key to changing our future for the better.

Through this initiative, I am confident that together we can build a stronger, more cohesive organization.
Please join this effort.
I will do my utmost to protect everyone who has the courage to file a report.
For Putting Compliance into Practice
In light of changes in public awareness of compliance, please take a moment to reflect on whether you are practicing compliance in your daily work.
If you are not, I hope you will consider “why” and “how we can put it into practice” while referring to the contents of the previous Compliance Review Days.

Whenever you are faced with a difficult decision, I encourage you to return to the Sumitomo Spirit of “Banji-nissei,” “Shinyo-kakujitsu,” and “Fusu-furi,” and always act in a manner that meets the expectations of society.