Environmental Audit
Environmental Audit and Exchanges
Environmental Audit
Mutual understanding by all parties through communication is important to promoting environmental management by the Hitachi Construction Machinery Group. Group companies are expanding overseas through the globalization of our business, which increases the importance of understanding each other’s position and circumstances. To that end, Hitachi Construction Machinery proactively conducts environmental exchanges with group companies, and conducts regular inspections of the status of compliance with environmental laws and regulations, management systems, etc. of group companies by conducting environmental audits every year.
In 2019, the Sustainability Promotion Group changed frequency of internal environmental audits of all its major manufacturing companies in Japan domestic and overseas. We have changed the audit cycle, which used to be once every four years, to an annual audit, and are working to ensure thorough compliance by implementing the PDCA cycle in a shorter period.
We have started environmental patrols at group companies engaged in sales and service sites, and from FY 2020, we have also conducted remote guidance by web meeting. Moreover, from FY 2021, we have conducted compliance check based on a checklist for overseas sales and service sites.
| Environmental Audit and On-site Inspection Results | |||||
| FY 2020 | FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | |
| No. of Locations which have received Environmental Audits | 27 sites | 24 sites | 24 sites | 24 sites | 24 sites |
Number of factories which have received audits (including document inspections)
Case study report, improvement of auditing ability of overseas group companies
By conducting self-audits using checklists and follow-up audits to confirm the progress of corrective measures for pointed matters, without changing the once per 4-year audit cycle, all sites can get audited every year. We use the same checklist to check domestic and overseas sales and service sites, as they are subject to the same potential compliance risks as manufacturing sites. We strive to reduce compliance risks by analyzing the trends in the findings from the previous year and revising the audit checklist by determining important check items. For overseas group companies, we use a consulting company to dispatch auditors who are familiar with local laws and regulations to identify risks.
Results of efforts
Annual audits improve awareness of compliance risks at all sites. In FY 2023, we conducted audits focuding on the implementation of measures for issues raised in the previous fiscal year, and confirmed the effectiveness of corrective measures. At domestic sales and service companies, we share findings of the sites that have introduced patrols and take countermeasures at all sites, this enables to improve the environmental management level and compliance risk countermeasures of the entire group. We will continue to make further efforts to provide education on environmental laws and to ensure that countermeasures are firmly established in workplaces.
