Human Rights Activity Report

Toray Industries, Inc. promotes year-round awareness-raising activities at each business site to foster proper understanding and awareness of human rights. In addition, every February and March, there is a company-wide Human Rights Awareness Campaign. During this period, the Company carries out initiatives such as distributing posters and pamphlets, holding study sessions in workplaces, and conducting educational programs led by the leader of the Company’s Human Rights Promotion Group.
In fiscal 2024, under the campaign theme, “Reflect on Your Words and Actions—Fostering Mutual Communication that Respects Others and Promotes Understanding,” the Company continued distributing educational pamphlets to all employees and worked to further instill a workplace culture of mutual respect. In addition to strengthening efforts to prevent sexual harassment, pregnancy-based harassment, and power harassment, the Company introduced training programs and group discussion activities aimed at creating a more open and inclusive work environment.
To raise awareness of human rights among employees, the Company holds management training and workplace-based study sessions at Toray Industries' offices and plants. In fiscal 2024, the leader of the Human Rights Promotion Group conducted remote and in-person group training sessions for members of the Human Rights Promotion Committee and implementation staff at the Company’s offices and plants as part of the human rights awareness campaign. The training covered key points derived from actual harassment cases reported through the company’s helpline channels, as well as initiatives aimed at fostering a more open and inclusive workplace culture.
In addition to reviewing the code of conduct and promoting awareness of the whistleblower hotlines, the program focuses on a different theme each year, looking at case studies of such issues as bribery prevention, or human rights and workplace harassment prevention. The fiscal 2024 program was held in March and April 2024, and 99.8% of eligible participants completed the activity. The theme was promoting understanding of the Ethics & Compliance Code of Conduct and Toray Group's whistleblowing system.
For group companies in Japan, the leader of Toray Industries’ Human Rights Promotion Group held training sessions on human rights for labor managers and members of their staff (59 group companies participated). In addition, the Company provided teaching materials, educational pamphlets and e-learning materials—the same ones used in the human rights promotion activities of Toray Industries. In this way, the Company supported efforts by group companies to promote human rights.
For group companies outside Japan, Toray Industries provided educational materials reflecting the Toray Group Policy for Human Rights, the Group’s human rights promotion system and international codes such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Overall, Toray Group promoted education tailored to the conditions of each country or region as it disseminated the Toray Group Policy for Human Rights.
The Group will continue to promote greater human rights awareness among its employees through ongoing human rights education and training programs.

FY 2024 Human Rights Training and Seminar

• Human rights awareness poster
• Training session

Toray Group recognizes the importance of respecting human rights in its business activities and works group-wide to identify, assess, and mitigate human rights risks. The Group’s approach is based on the fundamental principles found in the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, and is implemented as outlined below.

Click here (229.8KB)PDF for more details on Toray Group’s due diligence process.

Toray Group carries out an annual survey of all of Toray Industries’ offices and plants as well as its main group companies in and outside Japan, asking about their human rights promotion activities, including awareness and education efforts. The results are confirmed at the Human Rights Promotion Committee in Japan and the Global Human Rights Promotion Committee. Using this process, the Group identifies potential human rights issues, problems, and concerns as human rights risks, including discrimination, harassment, forced labor, human trafficking, child labor, denial of right to collective bargaining, and unequal pay. It is promoting efforts to address these risks at relevant companies or group-wide in accordance with the human rights promotion system described above.
Toray Group has set up a system that enables everyone working for the Group to report and consult on human rights issues. In Japan, the Corporate Ethics and Legal Compliance Helpline has been set up, and each group company outside Japan also has established a helpline contact point. All these services can be used anonymously, and there is also an externally operated helpline available. Toray Group strives to mitigate human rights risks and to respond promptly and appropriately if and when any issues arise. Information concerning the use of the helpline contact points in Japan, such as the number of contacts and their content, is reported to the semiannual Ethics and Compliance Committee meetings chaired by the president of Toray Industries, Inc.
Going forward, the Group will continue to strengthen its initiatives and improve its systems to ensure systematic and continual human rights due diligence.
In order to also promote respect for human rights in the supply chain, compliance-related communications can always be submitted through the Toray website. The system for ensuring human rights are protected in the supply chain is described under “Establishing Sustainable Supply Chain.”

Process for Reporting or Consulting on Compliance Issues

Toray Group has established helpline channels as shown below to allow everyone working within the Group in Japan to report or consult on human rights issues. In overseas locations, each group company maintains its own reporting and consultation channels.

1. Helpline contact points
at Toray Industries, Inc.

2. Helpline contact points
at group companies

3. External Helpline
contact point

Party reporting problem
at Toray Industries, Inc.

Party reporting problem
at group company

Knowledge of actual or potential violations of any relevant law or regulation,
company rule, human rights standard, or societal standards

Helpline Rules

1. To confirm facts, resolve issues appropriately, and provide feedback on investigation results, helpline users are generally asked to provide their name, department, and contact information. Users can also report violations or consult on issues anonymously.
   Even if the user identifies themself, the person may still request that no identifying information be shared with the Group.
2. Group employees may use either internal or external helpline channels.
3. Reports may concern workplace legal violations, breaches of internal rules such as employment regulations, harassment or other human rights infringements, or failing to meet societal standards. This includes not only incidents known to have occurred, but also those suspected or likely to occur.
4. All reports are received and consultations are provided in strict accordance with internal operational standards.

Initial Contact

Reception and
Investigation

Reporting
of Results

Feedback

The name and details of the helpline user is disclosed only as necessary for
investigation and resolution, with strict confidentiality maintained. Employees
are protected from any potential adverse treatment in the workplace after
reporting or consulting in good faith.

Depending on the details of the reported case, the appropriate investigation
department may be notified or requested to provide assistance. If the
department responsible for the case (based on its operational jurisdiction)
determines that an investigation is necessary, fact-finding and interviews may
be conducted with the helpline user and the relevant departments or personnel.

Investigation results are released to the internal consultation office and the
Ethics and Compliance Committee. If corrective action is needed, guidance is
provided to the departments or personnel involved.

The helpline user is given feedback as appropriate regarding whether an
investigation will be conducted, the progress of the investigation, and the
results.

In fiscal 2024, 65 hotline reports and consultations related to human rights (workplace harassment and inappropriate behavior, etc.) were received across Toray Group. Investigations were conducted to check facts for all these cases, based on coordination between the department (person) in charge of the investigation, relevant department (person) involved in the incident, and the internal consultation offices set up at each company of Toray Group. In cases where a problem such as harassment was verified, corrective measures were taken based on the group company's internal rules, such as the employment regulations.
The number of reports and consultations received, an overview of the cases, and the results of measures taken in response were reported to the Ethics and Compliance Committee, the Board of Directors, and the Board of Corporate Auditors as part of updates on the operational status of the whistleblowing system as a whole. Detailed reports were also submitted to the Human Rights Promotion Committee in Japan, and the Global Human Rights Promotion Committee.
In addition, through its human rights education in Japan, Toray Group introduced examples of issues reported to employees in a way that makes it impossible to identify the workplace or individuals to promote understanding and alerting to workplace harassment and other issues.