The JFE Shoji Group held simultaneous comprehensive disaster drills on September 26 at its domestic offices and Group companies. The annual drills provide each employee an opportunity to recognize that disasters can happen at any time, and to consider the importance of knowing what steps they should take in an emergency, including protecting themselves and confirming the safety of themselves and others.

This year’s scenario assumed that a magnitude 9.0 earthquake with an epicenter in the Nankai Trough had occurred. In this scenario, the Otemachi area—where the JFE Shoji Head Office is located—is hit with an earthquake in the lower-5 intensity range, while Shizuoka Prefecture and other western areas of Japan were hit with a quake of lower-6 intensity or higher, resulting in around a hundred of the JFE Group’s domestic business locations suffering damage nationwide.

Employees at the JFE Shoji Head Office practiced responding to the disaster on a Group-wide basis. This included confirming the most effective ways of checking the safety of all employees scattered over a wide area, sharing these tasks between key personnel, as well as gathering damage reports from the Osaka and Nagoya offices using limited means of communication.

When the emergency drill announcement played, the employees put on their emergency helmets, took cover under their desks, and used the Safety Confirmation Service app to report their status. Each department then did a read-through of materials containing excerpts from the Group’s all-hazard business continuity plan, and each member reviewed how they should respond to disasters such as an earthquake, fire, windstorm, flood, and terror attack.

The JFE Shoji Group places the highest priority on the safety of its employees, and is working to establish a better system that will enable us to respond quickly and appropriately in a disaster. By regularly holding such disaster drills, we will strengthen our employees’ disaster preparedness knowledge, increase the organization’s overall safety, and contribute to society.