Industrial washing machine manufacturer and subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, Inamoto Manufacturing Co., Ltd., made a presentation about the company's achievements at the Industrial Safety and Health/Comfortable Office Convention held in Ishikawa in October. The convention was hosted by Ishikawa Prefecture Labor Standard Associations and other organizations. Inamoto was invited to participate in the convention on the basis of their introduction and implementation of an Industrial Safety and Health Management System and Risk Assessment Program over the last two years, which have received outstanding evaluations. The presentation was attended by an audience of 600. The company's executive director Goro Uekusa says, "Industrial accidents can sometimes result in the whole factory having to shut down, which has a significant impact on business. That's why we decided to take drastic action and adopt a policy that called for a lot more spending on safety. It's almost unheard of for a plant like ours, one with only 120 workers, to hire a labor safety consultant and establish such a comprehensive system."

The consultant pointed out that while the company had established the system by itself, it hadn't gone far enough to be effective. On the consultant's recommendation, the management took significant further actions for improvement, including assigning safety promotion officers and establishing a Safety Promotion Office to report directly to the president, commencing weekly Safety and Health Committee meetings, conducting factory patrols by the Safety Promotion Office, conducting office meetings in the morning and during lunchtime and implementing other far-reaching measures such as safety management training. The factory's dining and lounge areas were also renovated to create cheerful and relaxing spaces with well demarcated smoking and non-smoking areas, which has reportedly improved morale among the workers. A spokesperson for the company commented, "Risk assessment is an ongoing process. We are working every day to improve the safety and comfort of the work environment, aiming for the complete elimination of risk factors within the factory."