Surveys of 1,022 Non-production Sites Completed  (Ricoh Group/Global)
The Ricoh Group started soil contamination surveys of owned and leased land at 1,022 non-production sites worldwide in fiscal 2004 and completed them in September 2006. The history of business activities and the use of chemical substances were surveyed at non-production sites for sales, distribution, services, and technological development, as well as production sites of subsidiaries of Ricoh's subsidiaries. The topsoil was surveyed at the five sites which had used chemical substances that could lead to contamination to confirm that there were no contamination risks. This made it clear that no costs for removing contamination from the ground would accrue at non-production sites in the future. As a result of completing the surveys, the Ricoh Group now understands and controls soil contamination risks at all its sites including production sites. |
Cleaning up Sites Where Contamination Was Detected  (Ricoh Ikeda Plant/Japan)
Ricoh Ikeda Plant carried out a soil survey in July 2006 when it rebuilt the facilities. The survey showed that the soil at the site was partially contaminated by arsenic, boron, and fluorine at amounts slightly exceeding the standards. Because of this, we requested the Department of Environment, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of the Osaka Prefectural Government to stand by during a detailed survey we conducted. As a result of the survey, we confirmed that contamination was limited to parts of the ground and underground water had not been contaminated. The survey also showed that there were no wells for drinking water downstream of the underground water. In light of these results, we plan to continue to conduct soil surveys and take countermeasures systematically and as needed on the site, although no effects are expected in the neighboring areas. Based upon the fact that soil contamination was detected at a site where the conventional survey had detected no contamination, we will conduct topsoil surveys at some of the sites, where necessary, after examining the results of history surveys conducted in the past.
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Survey Results of Underground Water Pollution
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