Environmental Risk Management
• Product Recalls
We have conducted product recalls in accordance with the statutes of the Quality Committee. In fiscal 2005, we notified the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of one incidence of an environment-related product recall. Details are provided in the following table.Name |
Insight |
| Type | AAA-ZE1 |
| Number of units subject to recall |
12 automobiles (manufactured from June 9 to July 12, 2005) |
| Defect | Some cylinder heads in the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system were improperly processed and inadequately penetrated bores. Because of this, the exhaust gas could not recirculate through the bores, causing the EGR system to malfunction. This might result in exhaust emissions exceeding the standards. |
| Improvement | Cylinder heads were replaced with nondefective ones in all automobiles. |
| Measures to inform users and automobile overhaul factories of the defect |
• Users: We notified the users of the automobiles that had the defect by direct mail. • Automobile overhaul factories: We did not notify them of the defect because we had contacted all the users. • We attach a No. 1523 sticker to the lower left side of the rear window of repaired automobiles. |
• Action in Emergencies
For accidents or emergencies that may cause environmental pollution, individual factories and their individual departments have clearly defined procedures and priorities to prevent or mitigate pollution. Daily activities include regular emergency drills and training events to acquire and improve competence in accident and emergency defense procedures. There were no environment-related emergencies in fiscal 2005. • Emergency Action Route
• Compliance with Legal Acts and Regulations
All sites and offices of Honda promote environmental improvement activities based on the Honda Environment Statement by introducing environmental management systems. For all environmental issues, Honda has established, and strictly abides by, its own voluntary standards, which are more stringent than national or local regulations.In April 2003, Honda established Honda Conduct Guidelines as part of its efforts to improve its corporate governance system. In the guidelines, compliance is defined as “compliance with laws, company rules and social norms,” and environmental conservation is defined as the “proper processing of waste and pollutants,” “efficient use of natural resources and recycling,” and “legally required measurements, recording, and reporting.” At the same time, a director in charge of compliance was nominated as Compliance Officer. Honda is strengthening the framework under which every organization performs their duties toward compliance and risk management under the leadership of a director in charge.
In fiscal 2005, the Law concerning the Rational Use of Energy (Energy Saving Law) and the Law concerning Measures to Cope with Global Warming were both revised. As a result, Honda is now required to assume responsibility as a shipper and company that emit greenhouse gases. We will properly fulfill this new responsibility by implementing voluntary measures. Also, we will actively participate in voluntary activities conducted by the automobile industry in response to the revision to the laws and to fulfill our corporate social responsibility.
There were no environment-related lawsuits filed against Honda in fiscal 2005.
There were, however, 16 complaints and requests made concerning the daily operations of our facilities, including the noise and traffic around our premises. We promptly responded to these complaints and requests, and asked all related personnel to pay due attention to the concerns.
For the traffic around the Tochigi R&D Center, about which concerns were raised, we will implement further improvement measures in cooperation with the local police and government, such as testing use of an additional “park and bus ride” system to further mitigate traffic congestion.
• Measures for Other Issues
Based on the important concept of “cooperation with local communities,” Honda actively promotes Green Factory activities and continuously adopts measures to resolve environmental issues. Our goal is to be a company that enjoys the confidence of local communities. We will continue our efforts to become a company in which local communities can take pride.To strengthen the monitoring of groundwater, we increased the number of observation wells established at our factory sites, which are used to monitor the soil and groundwater. As a result, it was confirmed that measured substances used at the factories have never been released beyond the boundaries of the premises.
Also, we will continue to monitor groundwater in the premises of our factories and will voluntarily announce the results in our environmental annual reports and on our web site.
