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

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.

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.

• *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.

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

NYK employees often work outside Japan, and our company doctor checks the health of each employee before and after an overseas assignment.

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

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

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.

We have hosted a number of events to promote health and heighten employee awareness of their own health.
Internists lectured on specific themes; a trainer gave individual guidance to employees who suffer from lower-back pain, shoulder stiffness, and bad posture; and visceral fat was measured using a specialized device.
NYK’s Charity Run+Walk has been held annually since 2017 to contribute to individual health and benefit society.
Donations collected by NYK employees running, walking, and doing exercises, in addition to a matching gift made by NYK, are contributed to an international NPO. During this event in 2020, which now includes indoor exercise in consideration of the COVID-19 situation, invited trainers gave running and yoga lessons online.

Online running and yoga lessons being given by trainers

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.

• Psychiatrists work at the company clinic.
• Consultation with specialists outside the company is available via the internet or phone 24 hours a day for employees and their family members.
• In Japan, offices with over 50 employees are required by the 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 too.
• At stratified training programs, a company psychiatrist or an outside instructor lectures about mental health.

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

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.

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. 1BMI scores under 25 for all seafarer members. The three necessary steps to achieve this goal are (1) reviewing eating habits, (2) enhancing physical exercise, and (3) cultivating a tolerance of mental stress. In 2019, we started “3 min. Exercise”* as an onboard initiative.
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 7,009 participants have taken courses at the facility since it opened in 2015. (Data as of the end of October 2022.) 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.

• *3 min. Exercise
  This is an exercise using oriental medicine that is effective against mental health and work disorders

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

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.

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