Social | Community
Activities related to health

The World Health Organization (WHO), based on an analysis of causes of death by income level, notes that it is important to address health improvement according to the needs of each country and region. The Bridgestone Group improves the sustainability of communities by contributing to efforts to improve local health conditions and to create a culture of healthier lifestyles.

In 2022, 238 initiatives^*1 related to health were implemented in 24 countries, which includes 201 initiatives with external partners^*2, with the participation of 1,311 employee volunteers^*3, and reached 86,885 people^*4 from the community.

Counting of “initiatives” varies by country or region.
Counting of “partners” varies by country or region.
The number of volunteer is the total number, including estimates for some activities.
The number of people who directly benefited from the Group’s activities, which varies by country and region and only includes those activities for which the Group has confirmed the status.

AHL (Active and Healthy Lifestyle)

Since its founding in Japan in 1931, the Group has supported activities that improve the lives of individuals and communities. These efforts are known collectively as “AHL”, or Active and Healthy Lifestyle.

AHL activities help build a symbiotic society in which diverse people recognize and help each other. Such a society encourages all people to be healthy in mind and body, make the most of their individuality, and achieve self-fulfillment. Toward the realization of this symbiotic society, the Group aims to solve social issues faced by the elderly and people with disabilities by co-creating solutions with local communities and various partners.

Bridgestone promotes initiatives to realize a symbiotic society through art and has been holding events to exhibit artwork by people with disabilities at the Bridgestone Innovation Gallery in Kodaira, Tokyo, since 2021. The theme of the 2022 exhibition was "Looking and Finding Each Other.” This exhibition aims to provide a space for interaction among people with disabilities, those who support them, and visitors. Bridgestone hopes that visitors will deepen their understanding of the people with disabilities who live in Kodaira City by interacting with them through the art exhibition, and also learn about the people who support them.

To encourage interaction among visitors, Bridgestone collaborated with local communities to host two related events. The first event was a sale of products made at welfare workshops in Kodaira City. This provided an opportunity for visitors to directly interact with people with disabilities and their supporters, and learn about the daily work of the artists exhibiting their work and the welfare workshops in Kodaira City.

The second event was a concert using inclusive handmade instruments that can be played by people with disabilities. Participants created their own instruments, ranging from simple percussion instruments to complex ones like guitars, and decorated them with colors and drawings to complete their original creations. Using these handmade instruments, participants enjoyed performing with a specially-formed band.

These exhibitions and events were jointly organized by the Disability Week Gathering Executive Committee, Musashino Art University, Shiraume Gakuen University, and several welfare workers and citizens in Kodaira City, and were enjoyed by a total of 1,458 people.

Future Starting Point Project with Ochanomizu University (Japan)

Bridgestone, in partnership with Ochanomizu University (one of two women’s national universities in Japan) has been implementing the Future Starting Point Project to help cultivate the next generation of female leaders since 2019. Females in high schools, undergraduate universities and graduate schools participate in a dialogue about future societal needs with stakeholders from business, education and local government.

Assuring food security during trying times (Singapore)

Bridgestone Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (BSAP) and Bridgestone Tire Sales Singapore (BSTSG) continued their support for Willing Hearts – a charity soup kitchen that delivers 11,000 meals daily to those in need – for the second year.

1) Tire Sponsorship
To help foster safe mobility, BSAP and BSTSG carried out a tire safety training and check program with Willing Hearts and their fleet of 11 vehicles, and sponsored tires to ensure the fleet is on safe tires. BSAP and BSTSG collaborated with their client, H-Tyres (a dealer that also helps to service Willing Hearts’ vehicles), who will then help Willing Hearts fit the tires at their convenience.

2) Meal Deliveries
A group of eight volunteers helped deliver around 100 food packages to over 50 locations across the island. After completing this task, the volunteers then headed back to Willing Hearts to join the kitchen volunteers.

3) Kitchen Volunteers
A total of 27 BSAP and BSTSG employees were assigned to a hot kitchen to help with rice cooking and packing, as well as the wet area to gut, cut, chop, and marinate fish.

Support for LILT’S Pink Ribbon Campaign (Italy)

The Italian League for the Fight against Cancer (LILT) holds a Pink Ribbon Campaign every year with the objective of raising women’s awareness of the importance of prevention and early detection of breast cancer. In 2022, Bridgestone Europe NV/SA (BSEMIA) provided support for LILT’s Pink Ribbon Campaign for the 10th consecutive year, and extended its prevention activities to all employees of the Milan sales office. They were able to benefit from free breast and dermatological examinations at the association's facilities.

Initiatives to support research and prevention in healthcare and the fight against the cancer (Italy)

Bridgestone EMIA Technology Center employees contribute to multiple sclerosis research of AISM supporting Christmas campaign and apples selling. In 2022, almost 200 employees took part to these initiatives. In addition, the center organized four blood donation sessions under the auspices of the Association of Voluntary Italian Blood Donors (AVIS), with 50 donors participating, while 14 employees were screened for bone marrow typing under the auspices of Associazione Donatori Midollo Osseo (ADMO). Its employees also actively contributed to the Good Cause of Susan G. Komen by subscribing and donating at the RACE for the CURE event, when four days are dedicated to Health, Sport, Well-being and Solidarity to fundraise for breast cancer prevention. In 2022, after two years of suspension due to pandemic, 250 employees of Bridgestone EMIA Technology Center participated in the Race for the Cure event. In 2021, Bridgestone Bari Plant employees made 288 blood donations, while in 2022 about 50 employees participated in the Race for the Cure event.

Delivering doorstep affordable and accessible community healthcare services (India)

Improved health indicators are believed to contribute effectively towards socio-economic advancement of any group or country and ‘achieving good health and well-being’ is also placed as a prominent goal among other SDGs. On the contrary, it was always a bigger challenge for society to make healthcare services affordable and accessible specifically for the rural areas where people suffer due to lack of healthcare services and infrastructure. To overcome these challenges, Bridgestone India has been active in bringing community healthcare advancement through various initiatives. Stepping further, Bridgestone India has launched Arogyam, which includes outreach doorstep healthcare services through Mobile Healthcare Unit (MHU) for the rural community around its manufacturing units located at Chakan, Pune and Kheda, Indore. Equipped with a team of experienced medical and para medical professionals, medicines in stock and basic lab tests, these units catered to more than 41 identified villages and provide preventive as well as curative healthcare services. These services will further be strengthened by strong network and referral services. The initiative is focused on bringing quality health services at the doorstep, thus ensuring early detection and treatment, saving of travel time and cost, ease of availing services, making it more affordable and accessible and thus positively impacting health seeking behavior.

The impact of the MHU can be seen in the light of:

Time saving
Money saving
Health at doorstep
Diagnosis by qualified doctors
Provide effective medicines
35,269 beneficiaries reached through Out Patient Department (OPD) and Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) awareness sessions.
Strong working and amicable relationships with secondary health support system in villages
Significant improvement in menstrual hygiene, sanitation, adolescent issues, etc.

In addition, awareness sessions for adolescent girls and school children on seasonal diseases, water and sanitation greatly contribute to behavior change and this change becoming a part of a daily regime.

B-Olympic (BSEMIA)

B-Olympic is a user-friendly digital platform collecting all types of physical activities translated in kilometers (walking, running, cycling, swimming, weightlifting, shopping, gardening, etc.).
Each year, BSEMIA sets itself an ambitious challenge to collect kilometers by doing physical activities to reach a target, which is aligned with the World Health Organization (WHO), encouraging the 10,000 steps a day as a goal for healthy adults. Once the yearly target is collected, a donation is made to BSEMIA’s 15 local charities dedicated to cancer prevention. In 2022, BSEMIA’s employees achieved its target of two million kilometers. Through its donations to the local charities, B-Olympic has managed to donate nearly 755,000 EUR over the past five years, with 135,000 EUR donated in 2022 alone. Employees from Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, and many other locations are participating in this initiative.

Bridgestone Athletics Centre (Australia)

Bridgestone Australia and New Zealand (BSANZ) believes in the important role that sport can play in fostering excellence and resilience in the next generation. The former BSANZ tire factory at Salisbury, Australia, was developed into a world-class sporting facility named the Bridgestone Athletics Centre. The expansive area (6.8 hectares) has been donated to the City of Salisbury, in addition to financial contributions made by Bridgestone. The dramatic blue running track has been built using 50 tonnes of recycled rubber. The Bridgestone Athletics Centre is open to the public, and is a key training ground for athletes of all levels.

Refurbishment of running course (Thailand)

With a focus on Active Healthy Lifestyle, and with dealer partner engagement, Thai Bridgestone Co., Ltd. contributed to the community at Krabi Tara Park through refurbishment of the track. All sub dealers participated in the October 2022 event where the track was handed over to the local government (upon track refurbishment completion).

Social | Community Activities related to health