HSE Management System (HSEMS)

Our Policy

To ensure the successful implementation of the HSE Policy in our business activities, in FY2007 we developed the HSEMS Manual, referencing standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. This manual was revised in FY2017 based on the international standard OMS510¹, issued by the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP). OMS510 is a system whose fundamental principles are leadership, risk management, continuous improvement, and implementation, and it forms the foundation by which we improve the performance and effectiveness of our HSEMS.

Based on these fundamentals, the HSEMS Manual defines the structural elements that are vital to the implementation of our HSEMS. These include: the preparation and revision of key HSE documents such as corporate manuals, procedures, and guidelines; the establishment of HSE organizations; HSE technical support for each division; HSE education and training; HSE communication activities; and periodic HSE audits and reviews.

The Nagaoka Field Office, our largest office in Japan, obtained ISO 14001 certification in FY2003 and has maintained this international certification for environmental management systems ever since, in conjunction with our HSEMS.

¹ OMS510: IOGP Report No. 510: "Operating Management System Framework for controlling risk and delivering high performance in the oil and gas industry”

HSEMS structural diagram

HSE Management Structure

HSE Governance

We have a system of oversight through the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee when it comes to HSE.

Our Corporate HSE Committee comprises the senior vice presidents of our operator project operational organizations that implement and manage operator projects, and head office divisions that manage non-operator projects and subsidiaries, and the general managers of corporate divisions. The Committee meets at least once every two months, and its activities include: proposing and implementing the Group’s initiatives for tackling HSE challenges; analyzing risks and opportunities; and monitoring the operating status and effectiveness of the HSEMS.

Important Group-wide matters resolved by the Committee are then discussed by the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors.

In FY2022, the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors deliberated revisions to the HSE Policy, and our policies and commitments on biodiversity conservation, water management, and waste management.

HSE Leadership

We believe that our senior management must lead the way in our efforts to raise awareness of HSE among our employees and the proactive implementation of HSE activities.

At our Annual HSE Meeting for FY2022, our President & CEO, officers who are members of the Corporate HSE Committee, heads of organizations in Japan and overseas, and labor union representatives identified action items that need to be pursued by sharing lessons from incidents that occurred in FY2022 and discussing the process safety management roadmap.

To realize ‘Safety Number One’, our core INPEX Value, we also conduct HSE management site visits which allow senior management executives to observe field operations firsthand and gain a better understanding of the risks involved while enabling them to directly communicate the significance of HSE to those in operational sites.

During FY2022, senior management executives participated in HSE management site visits to eight sites in Japan and two overseas sites, while taking thorough measures to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Management Site Visits

In July 2022, our President & CEO visited our drilling site off the coast of the San’in region. He shared the following message with employees at the site: “In our business, HSE management and Safety Number One are of the greatest importance. The Safety Number One (safety first) concept and work schedules can conflict with each other, but when that is the case, it is important that everyone at this site makes Safety Number One the highest priority.”

In November 2022, our chairman visited the Akita Field Office. As there are many well sites and plants near residential homes, the Chairman confirmed that both site workers and HSE personnel engaged in operations with a focus on safety and the understanding of local community and were implementing measures to ensure a stable supply of gas.

At all sites, senior management executives demonstrated HSE management leadership, and the visits were valuable opportunities for senior management and site employees to exchange directly about HSE initiatives and challenges.

By enlisting senior management to communicate a unified HSE management message to each site, these visits aim to increase overall HSE awareness throughout the Group.

We will continue to conduct HSE management site visits in FY2023.

The corporate HSE Unit also holds regular HSE-related meetings with operations divisions. These meetings enable participants to share information and opinions on the HSE activities at projects in Japan and overseas and acquire information from the corporate HSE Unit. In addition to discussions on individual issues such as incidents, an HSE Forum is held every September, bringing together operational organization HSE personnel, and representatives of head office operational and corporate divisions for intensive discussions on company-wide HSE issues. Participants engage in focused discussions regarding Group-wide HSE challenges.

Senior management executives, including our President & CEO, and labor union officers participate in Annual HSE Meetings, where they discuss critical issues identified at the HSE Forum. The results of these discussions are reflected and implemented in HSE activities (HSE objectives, HSE programs, etc.) from the following year.

HSE Forum

Since FY 2016, we have held an annual HSE Forum to enable employees to share HSE best practices, insights, and experiences, and to promote Group-wide strategies and plans related to HSE management, with the goal of enhancing our HSE performance across the Group, including in operational organizations in Japan and overseas, and in head office divisions.

Our FY2022 HSE Forum was the first held in three years. A total of 95 HSE personnel and other representatives from Japan and overseas participated, either attending in person or online. Discussions were held over the course of four days and across seven sessions: HSEMS; occupational safety; health management; process safety management; security and crisis management; environmental management; and GHG emissions management. The forum concluded with a commitment by participants for ongoing promotion of HSE activities throughout the Group.

The results of the forum were reported to the President & CEO and officers at the Annual HSE Meeting in November 2022 and are being applied to further improve our HSE performance.

HSE Objectives and HSE Programs

To ensure the continuous improvement of our HSEMS and achieve Group-wide HSE management, we set annual HSE objectives, develop and execute annual HSE programs for achieving these HSE objectives, and manage our progress to achieving them.

The key achievements of our FY2022 HSE programs were as follows:

(1) Revision of our HSE Policy and establishment and disclosure of our policies and commitments on the global environmental issues of biodiversity conservation, water management, and waste management.

(2) Development of the 2023–2027 Roadmap for Ongoing Improvements to Process Safety Management, a five-year plan for strengthening process safety management as outlined in INPEX Vision@2022.

(3) Development of COVID-19 Risk Screening for Employees Dispatched Overseas, used to manage and review the health risks of employees when on business trips as part of our initiatives to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Our FY2023 HSE objectives² were created based on the INPEX Vision @2022.

²FY2023 HSE objectives

Compliance with HSE Legal Requirements

We engage in our business activities in compliance with the laws and regulations of the countries in which we operate our projects.

For our operator projects, we identify legal requirements and manage the compliance status of each project in line with our internal procedure which outlines the measures for identifying, disseminating, and complying with HSE legal requirements, and responding to their changes. We also regularly update information to reflect new enactments and changes to laws and regulations.

For our non-operator projects, we periodically deliberate with related departments regarding the approach to managing and being involved in efforts to comply with HSE legal requirements.

We will continue to coordinate with projects and related departments, both in Japan and overseas, creating systems for managing HSE legal requirements throughout the Group, and complying with all such legal requirements.

HSE Risk Management

To minimize the negative impacts of our operator projects, we identify, analyze, and assess HSE risks in accordance with international standards (ISO 31000 and ISO 17776). We confirm that risk levels have been lowered to acceptable levels before engaging in operations.

Furthermore, to achieve the INPEX Vision @2022 goal of ‘zero major accidents’, we carry out thorough HSE risk management throughout the Group. As part of these efforts, our corporate HSE Unit receives quarterly reports on risks that potentially lead to major accident events (MAEs)³ and the other top 10 risks at all operator projects. We confirm the reported risks are being managed to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) level and provide our findings to the Executive Committee.

² Major accident events (MAEs): Events that cause fatalities, serious injuries, and other serious harm to people and property in the surrounding area, including fires, explosions, and toxic gas clouds resulting from large-scale leakages

Fostering of HSE Culture

To establish a mentality that prioritizes HSE within our organization, we have engaged in ongoing efforts to foster a strong HSE culture, including developing our HSEMS, providing HSE education and training, and sharing what we have learned from accidents through the course of our accident investigations (Learning from Incidents: LFI) with all employees.

In October 2020, we administered a survey regarding HSE culture to all Group employees—more than 2,400 employees in total—across our offices in Japan and overseas, including those in our corporate divisions.

In FY2022, we analyzed the survey results and quantitatively visualized the results, thereby identifying and analyzing the features, strengths, and weaknesses of HSE culture at each office. We are using these analysis results to share the good practices we have found in our domestic and overseas offices throughout the Group, to deliberate and implement specific measures for addressing areas where improvement is needed and fostering HSE culture.

In FY2023, as one of our measures for making improvements based on the results of our survey analysis, we are planning to conduct initiatives for educating and raising awareness among our corporate employees with the aim of fostering a greater understanding of the importance of HSE management.

As another measure aimed at fostering HSE culture, we bestow annual Corporate HSE Awards for the purpose of motivating and raising HSE awareness in organizations, divisions and among individuals, and improving Group-wide HSE performance.

In FY2022, seven awards in total were presented, with the HSE Excellence Award given to one group and HSE Activity Awards given to two groups and four individuals.

HSE Competence Improvement

In FY2022, we conducted 3,101 person-hours of HSE education and training via internal workshops, training sessions, and e-learning programs. In addition, for junior technical employees, we provide ongoing hands-on outside training opportunities, both in Japan and overseas, so they can acquire practical occupational safety management and process safety engineering skills.

We also develop job competency profiles by field for our HSE personnel and encourage them to further develop their HSE competencies through on-the-job training (OJT) opportunities and participation in training sessions offered by external organizations specializing in HSE.

We will continue to provide training opportunities to employees in FY2023 as we strive to raise the level of their HSE competencies.

HSE Assurance

We periodically conduct HSE audits and reviews to evaluate if the HSEMS is being put to full and steady use in our operator projects and corporate divisions, with the aim of strengthening HSE assurance. To do this, every year we formulate a corporate HSE auditing program and periodically perform HSE audits of operational organizations and the corporate HSE Unit.

In FY2022, we conducted risk-based corporate HSE audits³ for two overseas operational organizations. A third-party organization performed an HSE audit of the corporate HSE Unit.

The results of the HSE audits are reflected in improvements to the HSEMS as necessary.

We also conduct internal reviews to evaluate projects from technical and economic perspectives when considering: new projects led by domestic and overseas operational organizations,; non-operator project participation planned by head office divisions; and projects under the five net zero businesses, such as hydrogen and ammonia projects at individual sites.

HSE-focused evaluations of projects are also conducted.

The results of the evaluations are used to formulate corrective actions, based on mutual agreement. The progress of these corrective actions is then tracked and HSE operation support is provided as necessary, promoting ongoing improvements by steadily implementing corrective actions.

³ Risk-based corporate HSE audits: A methodology for narrowing audit focus to areas with greater risk by considering risks inherent in the organization