Ensuring safety in our railway business and other businesses

Based on the belief that safety and security are the backbone of our Group’s businesses, we will strive to improve customer satisfaction through measures to address stakeholder expectations, including planned investment in safety and conducting safety education and BCP training. Going forward, we will also strategically proceed with our response to natural disasters, which are expected to become even more severe.

On October 1, 2006, we established a Safety Policy*1 and are striving to　develop a system for business activities based on the principle of　holding safety as the top priority. Furthermore, we strive to ensure transportation safety through how we utilize our railway facilities,railroad cars, and employees.

We endeavor to “promote the attitude of safety first” and “cultivate a culture of safety” throughout the company, mainly through the regularly scheduled meetings of the Safety Promotion Committee (headed by the President) and the monthly Safety Promotion Executive Committee (headed by the Comprehensive Safety Administration Manager). The heads of business management divisions for corporate strategies, financial strategies, and general administration & human resources also participate in the Safety Promotion Committee.
As the chief executive responsible for safety management systems,
the President appoints the Railway Business Division General Manager
as the Comprehensive Safety Administration Manager, and the Railway Business & Train Stock Department Chief Manager as the Transportation　Manager, establishing a safety management system by clarifying the roles to be played by those responsible for each relevant department.
The “Safety Planning & Management Department” has been established as a department dedicated towards thoroughly ensuring safety and security. The Safety Planning & Management Department oversees matters related to the appropriate operation and improvement of safety management systems, and coordinates with relevant departments to promote organization-wide efforts that are necessary for improving the safety and stability of transport.

In transport safety management evaluation, transport security inspectors working under the Director of Transport Safety of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and evaluation officers from local Transport Bureaus check our safety management status by interviewing our management, comprehensive safety administration managers, transportation managers, and other representatives of our business management division on our safety management system. The 8th transport safety management evaluation‍ was conducted in September 2021 with no issues raised.Note that no transport safety management assessment was carried out in 2023.

To resolve issues and ensure transport safety, we have established and worked on the following five items as key safety measures for FY2024.
Under our safety management system, we have also conducted management reviews based on the status of key safety measures and results from internal safety audits.

We continue to invest capital to systematically and promptly implement necessary safety measures.
Construction work was undertaken for seismic reinforcement of elevated bridge columns and station buildings to prepare for large earthquakes that are predicted to occur in the future, along
with measures to improve safety on station platforms and renewal of aging facilities.
We will continue to make investments for the systematic promotion of safety measures in FY2024 as well.

There were no major accidents. However, there were two incidents: a railroad crossing failure accident*2 and an incident (cracks in bogie frames in the factory).
*1 Incidents in the railway business, transportation failures (limited to delays or suspensions in service for at least three hours), and other incidents for which we are responsible.
*2 Reported to the Kinki District Transport Bureau; no administrative guidance was issued to our company.

Every year, "comprehensive training for accident recovery" is conducted in which all departments participate to rescue injured customers, evacuate customers, and restore areas that have been damaged, based on a scenario of a large-scale accident or disaster. In FY2023, the training took place based on the scenario of "guiding customers from train cars to the nearest train station and restoring damaged facilities for a train that had stopped under the instructions of the Earthquake Early Warning System and had derailed due to the shaking of the earthquake." In addition, employees from divisions other than the railway division also participated in the evacuation drill and confirmed the procedures for guiding customers in an emergency.

Following an incident involving an onboard injury that occurred on the JR Kansai Airport Line between Hineno Station and Rinku Town Station in FY2023, we conducted liaison reporting, evacuation guidance, and criminal suppression training with the aim of strengthening cooperation with the police along our railway lines.
We also conducted training on what to do in the event of an emergency on the train, including checking how to operate the train when the emergency button is pressed, how to press the emergency button, and how to handle the door release cock.