Occupational Health and Safety Management

When carrying out business activities globally, it goes without saying that we must comply with laws, regulations and ethics relating to employment and labor in each country where we do business. The fundamental polices of the entire Panasonic are not only to respect basic human rights, namely, the prohibition of discrimination, the right to freedom of association, the guarantee of the right to organize, the guarantee of the right of collective bargaining, and the prohibition of forced labor, but also to practice appropriate recruitment and labor management based on the laws and regulations, labor practices, and labor management relations of each country.

Panasonic believes that, armed with the proper knowledge, HIV/AIDS can be prevented and unnecessary confusion and worry avoided in the work place. Thus, Panasonic has undertaken to educate all its employees about HIV/AIDS as the cornerstone of its initiatives in this area. In human resources management, with the protection of the human rights of our employees with HIV/AIDS as our guiding principle, we will

1. keep personal information confidential
2. prohibit discrimination in personnel matters
3. require consent for testing of HIV/AIDS
4. carry out educational activities

Against a backdrop of expanding global business activities, Panasonic introduced in fiscal 2008 the Overseas HR & Labor Assessment, whose goal is to strengthen compliance with labor and human rights requirements at companies outside of Japan, and to bolster labor risk management. The Overseas HR & Labor Assessment is used at companies outside of Japan and is a self-administered checklist of 300 items whose purpose is to determine if proper labor practices based on local labor laws and employment regulations are being followed, and to determine if there are latent labor risks that will affect business or create problems later. The initial assessment is done by the company itself, and a final assessment is performed by assessors from the business domain company in Japan. Panasonic also provides regular assessor training to raise the effectiveness of assessments. Panasonic is working to strengthen labor management at the global level while deepening relations between companies in Japan and other countries.

Following an EU directive* adopted in 1994, each Panasonic company in Europe quickly set up a voluntary labor-management agreement and established the Panasonic European Congress. In fiscal 2008, 29 employee representatives from 13 countries gathered together for a three-day course in Paris, where they exchanged information regarding management strategy, business challenges, employment and labor conditions, and conducted lively discussions with management executives.

* A directive that obliges all companies employing 1,000 or more employees in two or more countries of the European Union to establish a pan-European labor-management consultation committee.

Though the ratio of union organizations varies among private companies in China, 55 of the 59 Panasonic group companies have unions, and there are labor-management talks every couple of months. China is rapidly developing, and the expansion in the number of production facilities sometimes affects the work environment, but through labor-management talks, Panasonic is steadily working to improve the work environment. In fiscal 2008, one of the Panasonic group companies producing compressors added equipment, and this raised the temperature of the factory, but with the coordinated effort of both labor and management, the situation was quickly resolved, and a more comfortable work environment was restored. This solid labor-management relationship is the key to creating an excellent work environment.