BCM and Crisis Management
Reducing Business Risks and Preventing the Recurrence of Incidents
Goals and Achievements of Major Initiatives
Ensure the continuity of DIC Group businesses.
| Goals for fiscal year 2023 | Periodically revise Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) and reinforce cooperation among product divisions and sites. |
|---|---|
| Achievements in fiscal year 2023 |
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| Evaluation | ★★★ |
| Goals for fiscal year 2024 | Promote BCM systems. |
| Goals for fiscal year 2023 | Strengthen efforts to create a global crisis management configuration and promote BCP initiatives. |
|---|---|
| Achievements in fiscal year 2023 |
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| Evaluation | ★ |
| Goals for fiscal year 2024 | Strengthen efforts to create a global crisis management configuration. |
- Evaluations are based on self-evaluations of current progress.
Key: ★★★ = Excellent; ★★ = Satisfactory; ★ = Still needs work
Basic Approach to BCM and Crisis Management
The DIC Group accounts for all risks with the potential to interrupt business continuity through BCM, including those related to natural disasters such as major earthquakes, typhoons and floods; infectious diseases and pandemics; and facility accidents such as explosions, fires and leaks. The Group comprehensively estimates the probability of critical events arising from these risks and the impact thereof on management, prioritizing response measures for more significant risks. The Group has also established a task force framework encompassing a headquarters task force, business task forces and on-site task forces, and is working to formulate and improve BCM and crisis management countermeasures, including by reviewing risk-specific manuals used Groupwide, formulating and revising BCPs for key products and updating information.
Framework for Promoting BCPs
DIC has prepared crisis management rules and risk-specific manuals for use across the DIC Group in the event of a major disaster, as well as formulated BCPs for individual product divisions. DIC also recognizes the importance of fulfilling its supply responsibilities in the event of damage to its facilities from a large-scale disaster and thus incorporates this perspective into its BCPs. Specifically, the Company selects key products and reflects them in BCPs.
In fiscal year 2023, DIC formulated and deployed BCPs for all of its unlisted consolidated subsidiaries in Japan with production sites, completing BCPs targeting high-priority risks similar to those of the parent company. Additionally, a fact-finding survey was conducted on the status of, among others, BCPs and crisis management rules of DIC Group companies overseen by DIC Asia Pacific in Singapore and DIC (China) with a view to expanding the scope of BCP formulation to include these companies.
BCM in Fiscal Year 2023
Responding effectively to accidents and disasters depends on employees having a correct understanding of BCM and of how to properly execute the DIC Group’s BCPs. This in turn requires education and training, which includes presentations for employees newly put in charge of BCPs for business groups, as well as for Group company employees assigned to related roles at Group companies in advance of the rollout of BCP initiatives. Training also involves conducting workshops and map-based simulation exercises targeting senior management for headquarters task force members under the supervision and guidance of experts.
In fiscal year 2023, the Group conducted a BCP-focused drill based on the premise of an accident involving a chemical leak at a production facility caused by an earthquake. The drill included using online meetings involving the headquarters task force, product divisions and production facilities in combination with the DIC BC Portal disaster information system—a web-based system facilitating the collection and sharing of information when an accident or disaster occurs—to report and discuss responses based on damage estimates, including the possibility of chemicals escaping outside the site, and included an exercise in dealing with local governments and residents.
Improving the Effectiveness of BCPs and Avoiding Mere Formalities
DIC works to refine its BCP templates to avoid mere formalities. Key measures include conducting annual status update meetings, attended by relevant executives, to verify that product division BCPs are up-to-date and relevant. The fiscal year 2023 status update meeting involved examining the content of product division BCPs, confirming the update status, as well as identifying areas for improvement and issues to be addressed, based on which improvements will be implemented in fiscal year 2024 and beyond.
Conducting Emergency Response Drills
In addition to annual headquarters task force–led training, DIC has developed and works to maintain a system designed to ensure its ability to minimize damage in the event of a disaster, as well as to facilitate the swift restoration of operations. This system includes employee safety confirmation, site-tosite emergency radio warning, site-specific comprehensive disaster and other drills. With the establishment of site training environments for the aforementioned DIC BC Portal, use of the system in the sharing of information among sites during emergency response drills expanded significantly.
Crisis Management
Administration of the DIC Portal Web-Based Disaster Information System
In fiscal year 2023, DIC sought to address issues associated with the DIC BC Portal that emerged during the period, the second year since the system’s rollout, to maintain and gradually improve the effectiveness and usefulness of this system. Specifically, from the perspective of clarifying criteria for activating the system and facilitating more appropriate internal information management, a review was conducted of the range of settings for categories used for sharing information, which include natural disasters, accidents, fires, explosions, chemical leaks and serious personal injuries.
Community Efforts to Cope with Major Disasters
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. As a consequence, ensuring earthquake readiness, that is, the ability to prevent and mitigate the impact of earthquakes, is recognized as a critical challenge for society as a whole.
Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district, home to the DIC Building, DIC’s corporate headquarters, is noted for its tightly clustered large commercial complexes and office buildings. A comprehensive neighborhood disaster drill is conducted annually on a nearby empty lot. The DIC Building, designed with state-of-the-art earthquake-resistant technologies, has been designated as a temporary shelter for people stranded in Chuo-ku, the ward in which Nihonbashi is located, while DIC, as a member of Chuoku’s management council for emergency shelters for stranded individuals, promotes a variety of initiatives aimed at assisting people stranded in the wake of a major disaster. The Company also participates in drills in collaboration with local authorities aimed at guaranteeing the effective sharing of information, even in the midst of post-disaster chaos, regarding evacuations. DIC will continue to play an active role in community-based efforts to reinforce local disaster preparations, thereby helping ensure Tokyo’s disaster resilience.
