Third-Party Opinion Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Our Efforts
I understand finalizing the business restructuring without exceptions was
as I mentioned above, CSR due diligence from the perspective of human
Here we report on the situation and efforts of the company (as of July 2011) concerning the earthquake off the coast
painful. You also had to respond to the Great East Japan Earthquake that
rights now encompasses the entire value chain. I would expect to see further
of northeastern Japan that occurred on March 11, 2011.
occurred on March 11. I respect your waste treatment and recycling efforts in
development in your efforts. Furthermore, your report does not mention
light of the significant damage inflicted by the quake on your facilities,
how women in the company are developing their careers, an omission that
could become a significant disadvantage in the course of globalization. Damage and Reconstruction at the Company
I deeply appreciated your expressed commitment to promoting CSR
Civic engagement and support for community development are among
management in response to the times, which is consistent with ISO 26000
the seven core themes of ISO 26000. Your efforts in these areas as part of
standards published in 2010 and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Major Damage to Business Sites
stakeholder engagement are also noteworthy.
While one of the two rotary kilns (Kiln No. 1) was flooded by the tsunami, the other (Kiln No. 5) was not damaged.
Enterprises 2011, as wel as your presentation of the three perspectives
Operations at Kiln No. 5 were suspended, however, due to damage to material supply and shipment facilities. We
The development of human resources through communication should also
are conducting restoration efforts toward resuming cement production with Kiln No. 5 in November 2011. We
described under Commitment of Top Management, which implies that
include efforts in the workplace as wel as interactions between employees
started using Kiln No. 5 to incinerate debris generated by the tsunami from the cities of Ofunato and Rikuzentakata
and society. The overal network of al employees, with each one having
Your review of supplier issues as a particular concern in your overal
contact with the general public, represents the social capital of the company,
relationships with key stakeholders is certainly timely. The global trend to
Out of our 14 service stations (SS) in the Tohoku region, eight on the Pacific Coast were damaged.
which contributes to corporate value.
Because the damage to Shiogama East SS and West SS was relatively light, the first post-March 11 earthquake
apply a CSR focus to due diligence processes, however, has advanced to the
The scope of this report is basical y Taiheiyo Cement Corporation
cement carrier to the Pacific coast of the Tohoku region arrived at Shiogama East SS on April 20, 2011, and we were
point that Japan’s CSR stance could be perceived as outdated. In the human
able to resume shipments of soil stabilizer (GEOSET) using a part of the functions of the two stations. At the six
(non-consolidated), although expected actions are now turned toward
stations (Hachinohe East, Hachinohe West, Sendai, Soma, Onahama North and Onahama South) where operations
rights area, the ISO and OECD documents mentioned above are based on a
providing information about considerations and efforts across the entire
are still suspended, we are working toward completing restoration by the end of August 2011.
report written by John Ruggie, the United Nations Special Representative of
Until our SS network has been completely restored, we wil continue supplying cement to affected areas via
value chain beyond the consolidated companies. I therefore feel that you
back-up shipments from other stations, particularly Sakata South (Yamagata Prefecture), Aizu (Fukushima
the Secretary General, which advocates for the principles of “Protect, Respect
should expand the scope of the report as soon as possible. I am sharing this
Prefecture), and Yaita (Tochigi Prefecture).
and Remedy.” These guiding principles were endorsed by the UN Human
comment ful y aware of your efforts with WBCSD-CSI concerning CO2 and
Rights Council in June this year and adopted as a framework by the UN. Let
me add that human rights due diligence has become essential beyond the
I appreciate the significant improvement in the Check/Act information in
workplace to include business relationships and the entire value chain. Immediate Post-Earthquake Response Support for Affected Areas
response to my suggestion made last year. I recommend, however, that you
Your environmental efforts are praiseworthy, including your initiative that
use more footnotes on technical terms given the expanding readership of
On the night following the earthquake, we set up the Emergency
From March 15 to April 7, 2011, we maintained the Kitakami Satel ite within the
serves to link forward and reverse logistics in a recycling-based society,
Countermeasure Headquarters, led by our President, Keiji Tokuue, and the
office of System Base Corporation, our subsidiary company based in Kitakami City,
development of environmental y aware products, and engagement with
entire company did everything possible with the cooperation of cement
Iwate Prefecture, to col ect information and provide support for the damaged
biodiversity. I would like to see these efforts more powerful y communicated
plants and branches to confirm the safety of employees, identify damage
Ofunato plant and other efforts. On March 16, we began dispatching trucks loaded
and expanded across the world. In terms of providing detailed data, you
and transport life-saving goods to affected areas.
with provisions from our business partners and group companies and life-saving goods provided by our plants and branches to affected areas (total of twenty
might consider broadening the integration of the Web into your
Earthquake Response to Date
10-tonne trucks, fourteen 4-tonne trucks, and two other trucks). The provisions
covered a broad range of goods, such as beverages, food, clothing, toilets,
Western companies typical y strive to gain a solid standing in society by
prefabricated cabins, batteries, motorbikes, fuel, tools and equipment for use in the
developing advanced technologies into industry standards. I encourage you
Set up the Emergency Countermeasure Headquarters, led by
affected areas, including Ofunato City.
to also pursue this strategy as an international leader in the cement industry.
Although you are implementing a number of actions to support employees,
Confirmed the safety of all employees, including those working at the Ofunato plant and Tohoku branch
Future Plans
We established a task force to support reconstruction of the most heavily
Delivered life-saving goods to Ofunato City
damaged Ofunato plant, and the entire company is working to restore
Publicly announced the safety of employees, status of damage,
Response to Third-Party Opinion
operations there. We have started incinerating debris, although we can
We have asked Mr. Goto to review our work for three consecutive years. His thought-provoking opinions
Publicly announced the contribution of life-saving goods
currently handle only 300 tonnes a day. We cannot move on to support
valued at 50 mil ion yen and a donation of 80 mil ion yen (from
have been the source of significant encouragement for our CSR efforts.
reconstruction efforts in the Tohoku region without dealing with the
the company and group) to support victims and the affected
debris first. Despite the various obstacles involved in dealing with it, we
These three years have been an extremely chal enging time for the company. We are reassured by his
have accepted this chal enge. The resumption of cement production in
President Tokuue visited the Ofunato plant; recovery plan was
expression of appreciation for the three perspectives we have identified during this time and have been
autumn of this year is in sight. In terms of our service stations that are
pursuing. Mr. Goto suggested adopting the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” principles for human rights, as
First post-March 11 earthquake cement carrier to the Pacific
currently shut down, we are working to restore six of them by the end of
coast of the Tohoku region arrived at Shiogama East SS
described by international standards such as ISO 26000, and broadening our perspective to encompass the
August 2011 in order to stably supply cement to affected areas.
Set up a reconstruction project team for the Ofunato plant
The cement industry has been supporting the nation’s infrastructure and
entire value chain. As a company that is poised to expand its global operations, we reaffirm the importance
Tohoku Electric began supplying industrial power to the
society and contributing to building Japan for 130 years. We wil strive to
of this issue and wil keep it firmly in mind. We wil also consider his other recommendations for expanding
remain in an essential position for the future rebuilding of the nation.
Started trial incineration of debris using Kiln No. 5 at the
the scope of our report and for promoting human resource development through interactions with society.
One thing was incidentally confirmed during the earthquake: the
We place high priority on engaging with stakeholders to deliver the value demanded by society through Director,
strength of cement and concrete against disaster. We here reaffirm our
Ofunato plant began incinerating debris and other materials
mission to “deliver safety and security through cement and concrete” and
from Ofunato City, Rikuzentakata City, etc.
innovation. I look forward to hearing the frank comments of the readers of this report.
will continue vigorously pursuing this objective.
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