Health and Productivity, Occupational Safety and Health

Promoting Health and Preventing Disease to Increase Corporate Value

The health and safety of our employees is instrumental to the foundation of our business, and as such, our highest priority is to promote health and productivity management for an increase in corporate value.

Working on Land

Health and Productivity Management

To strengthen its health and productivity management, NYK and the NYK Health Insurance Society collaboratively launched the POPEYE project (Promotion of Physical & Mental Enrichment of Yusen Group Employees) in April 2015. The NYK president, as the chief health officer, together with other members of management, the Human Resources Group, the NYK Health Care Center (our inhouse company clinic), and the NYK Health Insurance Society, advocates health and productivity management so that our employees can stay in good health and resultingly maintain a positive disposition and achieve their potential.

POPEYE Project

POPEYE Project Organization Chart

Company clinic

At its head office, NYK has a clinic that is staffed with a company doctor, internists, psychiatrists, and a nurse so that employees may consult and see a doctor whenever they like. Vaccinations are also provided to prevent infectious diseases.

Health checkups

To promote and maintain good health, NYK encourages all employees to get annual checkups. Our goal, however, is not to simply have all employees receive a medical checkup but to provide them with knowledge of their health condition so that they can better avoid disease or reduce its severity. In addition, our company doctor or internist provides medical treatment or guidance to patients requiring additional care.

Employees receiving health checkups
  • *In fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2021, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, overseas seconded employees and seafarers were unable to receive medical examinations, and the medical examination rate decreased.

Special medical examinations

At hospitals and specialized clinics, our employees can receive special examinations that include full medical checkups, cancer examinations, and gynecological examinations.

Health checkups before and after overseas assignments

Our company doctor checks each employee's health before and after overseas assignments.
Before the employee begins the assignment, the doctor reviews dietary habits at the assignment location, depending on the medical exam results.

Dental examinations

The NYK Health Insurance Society offers dental examinations for employees at the head office.

Smoking-reduction efforts

The company clinic provides support to employees willing to try to quit smoking.

Employees who smoke

Fiscal Year 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Percentage 15.2% 15.1% 12.7% 12.4% 11.2%

Health committee

Our company doctor, together with parties concerned from NYK and representatives of the NYK Labor Union, convenes a monthly health committee, at which information is shared about the health and labor situation of employees. The labor union and the Human Resources Group work together to reduce employee overtime by encouraging employees to take days off, etc., because both organizations consider health and safety to be the highest priority.

Company cafeteria

Small bits of information about foods and dietary habits on a cafeteria table

A dietitian-created lunch menu that takes into consideration health by providing, for example, a low sodium or low carbohydrate option, is offered. Calories and salt content are shown for every menu, and small bits of information about foods and dietary habits are placed on cafeteria tables. A Table for Two option is also offered to support school meals for children in undeveloped countries.

Activities

We have hosted several events to promote health and heighten employee awareness of their health.
We have invited internists to lecture on specific themes, had a trainer provide individual guidance to employees who suffer from lower-back pain, shoulder stiffness, and bad posture, and had employees' visceral fat measured using a specialized device.

  • NYK's Charity Run+Walk

    Charity Run+Walk was launched in 2017 to promote the health of the Group's employees through running and walking, which are familiar activities, as well as to spread awareness of social issues. Employees from NYK Group companies worldwide participate by collecting donations for various physical activities: running, walking, golfing, jumping rope, aerobics, dancing, cycling, swimming, yoga/Pilates, weight training, and rowing. The accumulated donations and a matching gift from NYK are given to an international NPO.

  • Health seminars by our company doctor

    Believing that it is essential for women to have a correct understanding of women's health for them to continue to play an active role, we held a series of seminars on "health issues according to women's life stages" since 2023. Group company employees and business partners are also invited to participate. At our first event, we had 135 participants (of these, the participation rate for all employees of NYK Headquarters as a whole is 3.3%).

Mental health care

Employees generally do not have a positive disposition if they are not of a sound mind, so NYK makes active efforts to promote mental health care.

  • We have a psychiatrist available at our company clinic.
  • Consultation with specialists outside the company are available via the internet or phone 24 hours a day for employees and their family members.
  • At stratified training programs, we have our company psychiatrist or outside specialists conduct lectures about mental health.

Stress checks

In Japan, offices with 50 or more employees are required by occupational safety and health law to conduct stress checks. NYK additionally performs them voluntarily at offices with less than 50 employees in Japan and overseas, and on all vessels.

  • Presenteeism

    At the same time as stress checks, we measure presenteeism, i.e., lost productivity that occurs when employees are not fully functioning in the workplace because of an illness, injury, or other condition.

    Year 2020 2021 2022
    Percentage 18.2 18.6 17.2
  1. *Measurement method: The percentage of respondents who responded to the following question of The Single-Item Presenteeism Question*1 with a rate below 100%: "On a scale from 1% to 100%, where 100% is the best job performance you could have at your job if unimpeded by sickness or injury, how would you rate your overall job performance on the days you worked during the past four weeks (28 days) ?"
  2. *1 A Single-Item Presenteeism Question, or SPQ, is a scale that can easily measure presenteeism* with a single question. It was developed by "The University of Tokyo Working Group," a Fiscal 2015 Project to Promote the Creation of Industries to Extend Healthy Life Expectancy.

Refreshment

The head office also has a massage room, roof-terrace relaxation space with benches and gardens, and a cafe to enhance workplace communication.

Massage room
Roof terrace

Recognized as a Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization

For a seventh consecutive year, NYK has been recognized in the large enterprise category of the Certified Health and Productivity Management Organization Program, a cooperative initiative by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Nippon Kenko Kaigi (Japan Health Council). The program selects companies engaging in efforts to advance health and productivity management and providing outstanding health management in collaboration with insurers.

Employee Safety Management (in the event of a disaster)

The Group has introduced a safety check system to determine employee status at the time of a disaster, such as an earthquake. This enables the company to grasp whether employees can keep working, and if not, the earliest possible action to take.
If an earthquake of magnitude 6 or greater occurs at registered cities and offices in the country, a safety confirmation email will be automatically dispatched from the system to the employees. After receiving the email, employees will report their status and that of their family members, and management of each group can check the safety status of each members through the system. The Group plans to continue periodic safety confirmation drills to remain prepared for an emergency.

Working at Sea

Onboard Health Management

Since seafarers work on board a vessel for three to 10 months at a time, they are subject to a unique work environment that involves isolation (long-term isolation from land), dangers (such as maritime accidents), and living and working in the same place (cohabiting on a vessel).

Based on the idea that promoting the health of seafarers not only leads to improved productivity and motivation but also safe operation, below activities for seafarers have continued. NYK will proactively support seafarer health promotion so that they can actively work on board in good spirit.

Main Goals and Initiatives

  1. 1To improve communication speed between ship and land, we are introducing Starlink.*
    By facilitating communication between seafarers and their families and friends ashore, we aim to expand the welfare of seafarers and maintain and improve their work ethic.
  2. 2Intensification of practical training on dangers. We operate a training facility next to the NYK-TDG Maritime Academy (NTMA) in the Philippines, and approximately 7,552 participants have taken courses at the facility since it opened in 2015. (Data as of the end of August 2023.) Additionally, in 2018 we constructed an equivalent facility in India where we actively conduct training for Europeans, including Croatians, and in the future we will aim to expand training opportunities by incorporating new technologies such as VR.
  3. 3Improvement of crew working environment. Since 2021, NYK has been making efforts such as increasing onboard internet speed to improve the communication environment between ship and shore.
  • *Starlink is a satellite communication service operated by SpaceX. Because Starlink uses low-orbit satellites, it enables higher-speed, lower-cost, and larger-capacity communications than conventional communications.

Seafarer Injuries and Illnesses

Managing seafarer health is inevitable for safe vessel operation, so the Group conducts periodic health checks of the seafarer on board in addition to regular health checkups prior to boarding the vessel. Also, by confirming the safety of the onboard environment via activities such as an onboard safety committee, NAV9000, and Near Miss 3000, the Group encourages the improvement of seafarer safety awareness, and this leads to fewer injuries and fatalities. By gathering and analyzing data of injuries and illnesses, and that of Near Miss 3000, we can grasp the rate of occurrence and verify the effectiveness of safety activities to connect them to further improvement.

Reported Seafarer injuries and illnesses

Acquisition of Maritime Labor Convention Certificate

To comply with the ILO Maritime Labor Convention (MLC), the Group prepares MLC certificates for all its operating vessels. Our original safety standard, NAV9000, requires and confirms compliance with main international conventions such as SOLAS, STCW, MARPOL, and MLC, and strives for the improvement of onboard work and safety.

ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System Certification

The Group has obtained ISO 45001 certification to enhance the safety of shipping operations and maintain and improve quality. 11 of the 199 NYK Group companies, or 5%, have obtained the certification (as of February 2023).

NYK LNG Shipmanagement Ltd.
NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers Ltd.
NYK Auto Logistics (Kazakhstan) LLP
PT. Puninar Yusen Logistics Indonesia
Yusen Inci Lojistik ve Ticaret A.S.
Yusen Logistics (Australia) Pty.Ltd.
Yusen Logistics (Czech) s.r.o.
Yusen Logistics (Polska) Sp. z o.o.
Yusen Logistics (UK) Ltd.
Yusen Logistics (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
URYI LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.

Communication with Seafarers and their Family Members

To enhance communication with seafarers on board and their family members, the Group holds seafarers assemblies in many areas. We strengthen our correspondence with seafarers family associations by sharing information regarding seafarers, as well as providing family consultations on topics such as education for children.
Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has maintained communication with seafarers by conducting online meetings.

Family gatherings

Working on Land / Working at Sea

Occurrence of Occupational Accidents

We monitor occupational accidents for employees working at the headquarters*1 to reduce the lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR)*2.

LTIFR

  1. *1Includes fixed-term employees and employees seconded from group companies
  2. *2LTIFR
    Number of lost-day occupational injury cases / Total working hours × 1,000,000