CSR Policy
- We will aim to be an open and transparent company.
- We will endeavor in anti-corruption efforts including anti-bribery measures taking into consideration international agreements.
- We will take CSR into consideration in our procurement.
Priority Measure
Promoting CSR Procurement
Q・C・D＋Sustainability
As for the characteristics of the DOWA Group’s CSR procurement, to the existing quality (Q), cost (C) and delivery (D), we have added sustainability (S). This “S” means that we make an effort for social responsibility such as considering human rights and environmental conservation.
CSR procurement policy
Collaboration with Business Partners
At the DOWA Group, we do a questionnaire through a self-checklist in order to continuously grasp and evaluate efforts by business partners with regards to CSR activities.
The self-checklist is a self-assessment by the partners themselves about how they promote the company’s CSR and their understanding of the actual situation. We send a feedback report about the results, and for partners who are thought to have made insufficient CSR efforts on certain items, we urge them to work more proactively.
In addition, for partners who are particularly important for our business, or for partners whose self-assessment results have not met the standards, we do confirmation visits. Based on the results of the self-checking, we confirm things by doing interviews, checking documents and touring plants. If we see instances where the guidelines are not being met, we will point out the three stages of improvement, requesting and consideration. At the post inspection meeting, we aim to agree on the results of the inspection by explaining the results and doing question and answer, but in addition to requesting improvements for issues that we have pointed out, we also praise appropriate arrangements and outstanding initiatives.
In these visits, a team made up of people from the environmental safety and procurement departments do the inspections, but since personnel at our factories that use the material in question are also members of the team, we aim to strengthen the relationship of trust with the business partner and to further spread CSR procurement activities within the company.
On-site Visit to Check a Lime Mine
“Slaked lime”, which is procured by many of our factories, is an important material used for such environmental conservation measures as water treatment and exhaust gas treatment.
Limestone, which is the raw material for slaked lime, is one of the few resources that Japan is self-sufficient in, and it is possible to procure it from domestic mines.
In November 2016, we visited a lime mine of our business partner Miyagi Lime Industry Co., Ltd. to an on-site check based on the CSR procurement guidelines.
Conservation of the surrounding environment and securing the safety of workers are important in the operation of the mine. For this reason, we did the inspection with an emphasis on the environment and safety, and their management systems for these.
The opening meeting
In the interviews and document confirmation, we checked the safety plan and the situation for formulating safety policy. We confirmed that appropriate measures were taken at the site with regards to wastewater treatment, measures to deal with dust and management of dangerous substances. Particularly in the measures to deal with flying dust, we learned that in cooperation with local companies, they carried out cleaning activities in the surrounding area using road cleaning trucks, and were making efforts rooted in the local community.
With regards to business continuity in the event of a disaster, in addition to emergency measures such as establishing a communication network and setting up satellite phones, we found that they are working on a stable and reliable supply by promoting partnerships with the mines of other companies located in remote areas.
Limestone is mined and produced through the bench-cut mining method at an open-pit mine
By confirming the implementation status of CSR activities that cannot be grasped from the questionnaire results, we believe that it is important not only from the aspect of risk management, but also to increase the reliability of the supply chain. In addition, there are many things that we can learn through the CSR procurement practices, and there are also many new things that we can come to realize from the on-site inspections.
It is vital to have the understanding and cooperation of business partners for the inspections. In order to share the direction that we are aiming for, and to deepen understanding about the necessity of CSR procurement, we have also begun to explain the trends and social issues in the international community, in addition to explaining our procurement policies and guidelines from the audit of the previous fiscal year.
While cooperating with our business partners, in future we will keep learning together and work with the aim of building a better supply chain.
