Environmental Education and
Environmental Awareness Building for Employees
|
 |
|
|
Implementation of Educational Measures Based upon an Environmental Awareness Survey  (Ricoh Group/Japan)
To realize all-employee participatory sustainable environmental management, the commitment of senior management and the active efforts of all divisions are essential, and so is the fostering of employees who can carry out sustainable environmental management in their own operations. The results of sustainable environmental management will widely differ depending on the awareness of about 83,000 individual employees of the Ricoh Group around the world. The Ricoh Group defines high environmental awareness as knowledge of the environment and participation in environmental activities. The Ricoh Group takes a variety of measures for environmental awareness activities and education based upon regular environmental awareness surveys of employees, aiming to foster employees who can spontaneously incorporate environmental viewpoints into their own business activities and put them into practice.
Environmental Education System Chart
 |
 |
|
Implementing the Ricoh Group Environmental Awareness Survey
in Fiscal 2007
In fiscal 2007, the Ricoh Group conducted a survey to compare the environmental awareness of the Group and that of other companies. The survey aimed to clarify the characteristics of the awareness and behavior of the Ricoh Group employees and gauge the difference in awareness levels compared with other companies, by conducting a similar survey of other companies' employees (about 500 employees of machine- and IT-related companies that are listed on the stock market and have more than 1,000 employees). In the future, the Ricoh Group will organize educational programs based upon the results of the survey.
 |
|
 |
|
Elementary and Intermediate Environmental e-Learning for Employees
(Ricoh Group/Japan)
An elementary e-learning course, "First Steps to Sustainable Environmental Management," was conducted over the in-house LAN for Ricoh employees in fiscal 2006. The curriculum covered "Companies' Missions in Global Environment Problems," "Activity Cases in Respective Divisions," and other subjects, and aimed to enhance understanding and awareness towards sustainable environmental management. In fiscal 2007, the program was expanded to cover employees of other Group companies in Japan. In April 2008, intermediate e-learning was introduced for managers and employees in charge of environmental activities in each division at Ricoh; the curriculum covered how to incorporate environmental viewpoints effectively into operations and how to understand the effects of sustainable environmental management.
|
|
|
|
Organization of Environment-Related Specialized Training Courses
(Ricoh Group/Japan)
To develop personnel who can manufacture environmentally-friendly products or manage chemical substances properly at their workplaces as sustainable environmental management specialists, environment-related specialized training courses, such as LCA and recyclable design, are organized for employees.
Environment-Related Specialized Training Courses(Number of Participants)
| Name of course |
Number of participants
in fiscal 2007 |
| Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (basic) |
30 |
| Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (application) |
10 |
| Safety of Supplies (elementary) |
20 |
| Safety of Supplies (advanced) |
36 |
| Environment-Related Laws and Regulations |
64 |
| Noise (basic) |
31 |
| Recyclable Design |
35 |
| Thermal Design for Office Equipment |
17 |
| Ricoh Group's Chemical Substance Management System (outline) |
24 |
| Total |
267 |
|
|
|
|
|
Ricoh Group's Sustainable Environmental Management Conference
 (Ricoh Group/Global)
|
Ricoh Group employees listening to general comments by Mr. Kondo, president and CEO of Ricoh Co., Ltd. |
|
Ricoh Group's 14th Sustainable Environmental Management Conference was held in February 2008. Ricoh Ohmori Office was the main venue of the conference, with Ricoh Head Office and Ricoh Technology Center as satellite venues where simultaneous airing was provided, and a total of 470 employees participated in the conference.
The theme was "Let's think of what each one of us should do to help achieve the targets of the 16th Mid-Term Environmental Action Plan!" Lectures titled "Challenges of Life on the Earth," by Mr. Mamoru Mori, an astronaut, and "Developments after the Kyoto Protocol," by Mr. Sakurai, chairman of Ricoh, were followed by a review of the results of sustainable environmental management up to fiscal 2007 and an explanation of the 16th Mid-Term Environmental Action Plan that will start in fiscal 2008.
A commendation ceremony for the 6th Ricoh Group Sustainable Development Award was also held during the conference, with "Exercising Sustainable Environmental Management through Realization of Both Environmental Conservation and Business Creation in Product Recycling" winning the grand prize. Mr. Kondo, president and CEO of Ricoh, gave general comments and concluded the conference by saying, "Let us promote energy conservation with even higher aims."
|
|
|
|
European Environment Conference (Ricoh Group/Europe)
The European Environment Conference was held in May 2007 in Halderen in the Netherlands. Seventy
people in charge of the environment and recycling efforts from 35 sales subsidiaries and manufacturing subsidiaries in 16 countries in the European region participated in the conference. They reviewed the 15th Mid-Term Environmental Action Plan, confirmed policies and strategies for achieving the targets presented in the 16th Mid-Term Environmental Action Plan, presented excellent cases in respective
countries, and actively exchanged opinions about improving relationships with stakeholders. Like last year, trees were planted to offset the CO2 generated during the conference, but this year's planting of 804 trees was done for "climate neutral," to offset not only CO2 but also other greenhouse gases such as NOx and SOx.
|
|
|
|
Chinese Environment Conference  (Ricoh Group/China)
The 1st Chinese Environment Conference was held in the head office building of Ricoh China Co., Ltd. (RCN), regional sales headquarters for the China region, in November 2007. One hundred and forty-three people participated in the conference, including the presidents and employees in charge of the environment, sales, or services of group companies in China. The theme was "Promotion of Sustainable Environmental Management and Green Marketing through Coordination of Development/Design, Procurement/Production, Sales/Services, and Logistics." Representatives of companies with respective functions presented environmental conservation activities at their companies. In addition, all the participants visited leading recyclers in China that handle waste from RCN and Shanghai Ricoh Digital Equipment Co., Ltd. (SRD) on consignment. Today's China is faced with rapid growth in environmental awareness. RCN will lead the industry in sustainable environmental management under the environmental slogan, "To Protect Our China and Our Global Environment!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
