The Mitsubishi Electric Group conducts environmental assessments based on internal rules in conjunction with land changes and other developments.

When the assessments turn up soil contamination or other issues, the matter is reported to the authorities and measures are implemented in conformance with the Soil Contamination Countermeasures Law.

Our 5th Environmental Plan stipulates policies for preventing environmental accidents before they can occur. This specifically involves early replacement of obsolete facilities and preventative maintenance through inter-site inspections.

In the area of preventative maintenance through inter-site inspections, in fiscal 2007 we created indicators for quantifying latent environmental risk for each environmental factor. These enable us to quantitatively assess latent risk and risk mitigation initiatives for different types of environmental impact.

In fiscal 2008, we clarified the amount of residual risk in each category for all Mitsubishi Electric sites through comparisons with environmental risk assessment standards. In addition, we worked to strengthen inspections of wastewater treatment facilities by creating a list of risks that all the sites face in common. We also continued to replace facilities as needed.

We will continue to develop these risk lists for other environment-related facilities and widely communicate information on related initiatives in order to take additional steps forward in preventing risks before they materialize.

We inspect and check PCB waste being stored by the company as well as devices in use that contain PCBs at least once per year at each storage site.

However, in fiscal 2008, it came to light that two Mitsubishi Electric sites had inappropriately handled PCB in the past. This was immediately reported to the authorities, appropriate steps were taken, and the facts of the incident were posted on our website. We instructed the entire company and affiliates to conduct more diligent management in order to prevent recurrence and conducted training for managers and workers in charge of managing PCBs.

We currently dispose of PCB waste in a regular manner on the basis of a contract signed in fiscal 2007 with the Japan Environmental Safety Corporation (a fully owned government body that conducts PCB waste disposal under government supervision). In fiscal 2008, we disposed of 55 units of PCB waste and in fiscal 2009 we have plans to dispose of an additional 11 units. We will continue to engage in appropriate storage and management with the goal of completing disposal procedures at an early date.

We have also enabled customers to identify electrical devices with PCBs that were previously manufactured by the Mitsubishi Electric Group by posting a list of the devices on our website.

With respect to the chance that small amounts of PCB have contaminated transformers and other devices, Mitsubishi Electric has considered the possibilities of contamination during the manufacturing process, contamination after the devices have been delivered, contamination through insulating oil and other scenarios, but it has not been possible to identify the causes, devices involved or time of manufacture. We have therefore concluded that we cannot deny the possibility that small amounts of PCBs could have contaminated electrical devices manufactured prior to 1989 using electrical insulating oil. Quality management for insulating oil has been strengthened for devices manufactured since 1990, so we have judged that there has been no contamination by low-concentration PCBs as of product shipment.

Along with continuing to manage quality for insulating oil, we are working to provide technical information via our website and are responding to individual inquiries via a customer service desk already in place.

Mitsubishi Electric also participates in the Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association's PCB Disposal Committee, an industry group. We help the group disseminate information and consider disposal policies.

Mitsubishi Electric has banned the use of all six types of asbestos* as of July 1, 2006. We require that suppliers provide a guarantee of non-use when purchasing materials from them and confirm that there has been no contamination (revisions have already been made to our list of chemical substances for green procurement). Our group companies have also finished replacing asbestos with alternative materials and have destroyed asbestos-containing inventory as of September 2006.

However, in spite of these efforts, at the end of fiscal 2007 it was discovered that materials containing asbestos that had been part of a supplier's stock were mistakenly included in Mitsubishi Electric products for railway companies and that these products were delivered to customers. When the situation came to light, the Mitsubishi Electric Group immediately took steps to prevent future contamination, which included measures related to the management of supplier products, and worked thoroughly to raise awareness of the issue.

In fiscal 2008, we took additional steps to prevent contamination, including requesting suppliers to once again confirm and submit non-use guarantees. A newspaper report in January 2008 revealed that asbestos (tremolite), which is banned from use in Japan, was detected at a Tokyo daycare center, and on February 6, 2008, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare made an announcement regarding full analytical investigations of the presence of asbestos under Article 3.2 of the Ordinance on Prevention of Health Impairment due to Asbestos. Mitsubishi Electric has sales divisions for large-scale facilities accompanying construction work, so we again thoroughly checked that asbestos is not being used within the Group.

We intend to continue strengthening related measures and raising awareness of them.

*The six types of asbestos are Chrysotile, Amosite, crocidolite, anthophyllite, actinolite and tremolite.