Believing that all leading companies have a responsibility to society to take environmental protection initiatives, Kajima has long made environmental protection initiatives an integral element of its medium- and long-term plans for corporate development.
The Company has actively worked to protect the environment since the early 1980s. Kajima began creating a system for preventing construction-related pollution in fiscal 1984 and established its Construction Pollution Control Committee in fiscal 1987. This committee has focused primarily on systematic measures for countering water, air, noise, and vibration pollution stemming from construction activities as well as appropriately disposing of waste materials stemming from construction activities. In 1992, Kajima became the first in Japan's construction industry to articulate an environmental protection policy that included responses to global environmental issues.
In 1993, the Company established its Environmental Committee, chaired by the Company's president. Currently this committee supervises the subcommittee, which organizes Companywide environmental protection programs that encompass design and construction activities as well as office work.
In October 1997, Kajima concluded that the methodical approach to environmental management dictated by the ISO 14001 standard was effective and decided to obtain ISO 14001 certification for its operations. The Company's Tokyo branch, Engineering Division, and Architectural and Engineering Design Group have already been certified, and all domestic branches are scheduled to become certified by the end of fiscal 2000. Each branch and division has set and is working to achieve its own specific goals for such environmental objectives as environment-friendly design promotion, the reduction and recycling of by-products of construction work, and the reduction of energy and resource consumption at offices. As a result, the momentum of Companywide environmental protection programs centered on environmental management systems has been maintained.
Since 1996, Kajima has published a report on its environmental protection
activities during each fiscal year. The report contains such information
as that on the percentage of construction waste that is recycled, the annual
reduction in the volume of tropical wood used in concrete molds, and the
development of new environment-friendly technologies. Through this report
and other means, the Company is actively endeavoring to publicize the environmental
protection performance of each of its divisions. |
