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Safety, Industrial Hygiene

The Bridgestone Safety Mission Statement applies equally to employees, contractors, and visitors to our facilities. In all workplaces Bridgestone operates around the world, the Safety Mission Statement is prominently displayed for all to see. Together with the display, Bridgestone maintains programs to ensure all employees embody the Safety Mission Statement.

This mission serves as a blueprint for protecting the health and safety of Bridgestone’s employees and contractors. These standards must continue to evolve as Bridgestone continuously addresses ergonomic risks that increase with the aging of populations, regulations change, aging machinery and equipment, and the introduction of new technologies on-site. Bridgestone is also proactively promoting the highest levels of safety culture within the new businesses it develops or acquires.

Bridgestone also adheres to the Bridgestone Health and Safety Management Policy (guidelines for safety, industrial hygiene, and disaster prevention activities in Bridgestone), which has been approved by the Global Safety & Quality Management Committee (GSQMC) chaired by the GSQMC leader, the Chief Quality Officer (CQO). The policy summarizes Bridgestone’s safety activities based on the Safety Mission Statement in order to inform decision-making when implementing the health and safety management system. The policy covers compliance with health- and safety-related laws and regulations, risk assessments to identify and mitigate risks in the workplace, investigation and implementation of countermeasures to prevent recurrence based on various procedures, training and education for safety awareness and safe behavior, and continuous improvement through internal and external audits.

Bridgestone Health and Safety Management Policy (1.9MB)

Holistic Due Diligence Approach for Human Rights and Environmental Impact

Under the oversight of Global Executive Committee (G-EXCO) members, Bridgestone’s Fundamental Area Safety Group within the Global Safety & Quality Management Committee (GSQMC) manages and responds to common global risks, challenges, and opportunities related to health and safety.

The Fundamental Area Safety Group has established six task forces^*

• Task Force #0: Analyze common global issues and manage all task forces
• Task Force #2: Create and update global standards for health and safety, disaster prevention
• Task Force #3: Create and update KPIs and assessment tools, including safety maturity assessments
• Task Force #4: Plan and promote health and safety, disaster prevention activities for retail stores and warehouses
• Task Force #5: Create tools for raising health and safety, disaster prevention awareness
• Task Force #6: Create safe workplaces and lead safe behavior through advanced safety and disaster prevention technologies

* Task Force #1 has been dissolved after completing its activities.

Bridgestone exchanges examples of best practices with the strategic business units (SBUs) and Global Management Platform (GMP) through regular safety meetings, and promotes related activities in consultation with other global committees to create more synergies.

Task Force 0 collects information on the prevention of occupational health and safety accidents and prepares a quarterly report for the working group’s use. Each task force regularly reports occupational health and safety (OHS)-related risk assessment activities to the Audit Committee, which is made up of Board members and Global EXCO members.

Launched in 2025, Task Force #6 will seek to contribute to the efficient development of safety and disaster prevention technologies and their global optimization.

Bridgestone’s Safety, Disaster Prevention and Environmental Division and the SBUs share information on accidents and recurrence prevention measures, identifying issues and deciding on workplace policies. In order to share these policies and detailed measures with the rest of the Group, Bridgestone holds meetings with OHS personnel at Group company locations and exchanges information with business managers and safety personnel at the SBUs. At the plant level, periodic health and safety committee meetings are held between labor representatives and management to discuss safety enhancement and risk mitigation.

To track progress towards our aim of achieving “Perfect safety” as outlined in its Safety Mission Statement, Bridgestone annually evaluates its safety performance and monitors global best practices. The overall goal is to continuously enhance the safety culture with the aim of achieving the best results in the industry. Since 2022, Bridgestone has established four KPIs and monitors the results on the digital platform as follows.

Bridgestone has established the Global Criteria for Occupational Injury to classify injuries occurring at Group production sites and distribution and sales facilities, as well as warehouses. It compiles injury statistics on a quarterly basis and uses any findings to help prevent similar injuries. Bridgestone has collected data on the lost-time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) for employees and contractors globally since 2019 and data on the occupational illness frequency rate (OIFR) since 2020.

In 2025, across the Group, there were 8 serious injuries^*1 and one fatality among employees at its 4,175 production and logistics sites and retail shops.

Bridgestone conducts investigations and shares findings with related departments when a serious work-related accident occurs within Bridgestone, including contractor accidents. It introduces countermeasures based on root cause analyses to prevent recurrence. This includes identifying priority equipment or machines to be addressed based on past accidents and creating standards. Bridgestone has also introduced procedures to investigate and analyze work-related injuries, health issues, and diseases based on severity.

Bridgestone will continue to promote safety activities centered on the Bridgestone Fundamental Safety Activities without compromise, deviation, or exception, with the aim of reducing the total number of injuries and preventing the occurrence of fatalities and serious injuries.

In 2023, the LTIFR and severity rate for operations in Japan was below the average for both the Japanese manufacturing industry as a whole and the rubber product manufacturing industry.

Bridgestone’s safety-related data is verified by LRQA Group Limited, a third-party institution, to ensure the accuracy and transparency of this information.

Independent Assurance Statement (237KB)

The analysis of serious injuries from 2012–2016 showed that approximately 85% of all serious injuries were related to five major risks: body caught by equipment, mobile equipment, work at height, heavy object handling, and high-pressure tire inflation.

To reduce injuries associated with these risks, Bridgestone has established global safety standards that include provisions for risk assessment, lockout-tagout (LOTO), mobile equipment, work in high places, hoist/crane operation, and handling large/heavy tires and tire inflation. Bridgestone also regularly monitors progress on these measures. In 2025, Bridgestone reduced serious injury incidents caused by five major risks to 20% of the 2016 figures.

*1 Bridgestone defines serious injuries as amputation (except some first joints of fingers or toes), complete loss of vision, bone fracture (excluding fingers, toes, feet, hands, or infractions), or hospitalization exceeding one month.
*2 Numbers may vary due to the decision of workers' compensation.
*3 Includes South Africa and Turkey.
*4 Includes Liberia.
*5 The incident rate for rubber product manufacturing in the U.S. is 4.0 per million hours (2023 incident rate from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
*6 Severity rate = (Total number of working days lost ÷ Total number of working hours) × 1,000
*7 Occupational illness frequency rate = (Number of occupational illnesses ÷ Total working hours) × 1,000,000

Bridgestone has established a global health and safety management system in conformance with ISO 45001 and national standards/regulations and other established global standards. As of the end of 2025, 57 manufacturing plants have obtained ISO 45001 certification (55% of a total 103 plants), five manufacturing plants have obtained the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) certification (4% of a total 103 plants) in various countries, and all facilities are working to implement Bridgestone’s global standards.

Bridgestone’s manufacturing sites plan and conduct internal audits in order to monitor compliance with applicable laws and regulations, as well as its own global safety standard requirements, and evaluate safety-related performance at least every three years.

Bridgestone has established 49 global-level standards for occupational health and safety and disaster prevention in line with ISO 45001 (OHS management system standards), as well as national standards and regulations. Compliance with these standards by all sites throughout the organization helps prevent the occurrence of accidents in groups that have similar production equipment and similar operations on a global basis.

In 2025, Bridgestone formulated new standards related to heat stress prevention, automatic guided vehicles, and dust collector/duct management, and is also formulating global standards for logistics sites and retail stores as well as production sites.

Bridgestone implements Bridgestone Safety Fundamental Activities (BSFA) at all worksites. These activities stipulate basic safety practices, including:

• 3S: Seiri (select and remove), seiton (sort), and seiso (keep clean)
• KY: Kiken-yochi: Identify the potential of incidents occurring in a task before starting it and take feasible actions at the time to avoid the identified potential incidents.
• Risk assessment: A series of steps to create low risk workplaces by identifying and evaluating risks and promoting risk mitigation measures.
• Safety rules: Rules to prevent fatal/serious injuries, based on past injuries within Bridgestone Japan

All of these basic safety practices are conducted uniformly at all worksites and by all employees as ongoing initiatives.

The activities are common safety activities to be performed by employees working at all global locations with the goal of protecting themselves and their colleagues.

In 2025, all Group employees (approximately 121,500) received additional safety training and 132 instructors were newly trained to promote BSFA.

In addition to assigning instructors to provide training in each region, Bridgestone updated its shared global training materials (texts and videos) for BSFA in 2024 to ensure that all teammates working in the value chain comprehend the importance of safety, share the same understanding of the Bridgestone Safety Fundamental Activities, and help further instill these activities across the company. Textbook materials have now been translated into more than 13 languages and are used for on-site safety training.

Creating video materials, which were not previously available, made it possible to provide training in the absence of trainers and contributed to ensuring a shared understanding of the globalization of business and the expansion of the value chain.

Bridgestone also conducts level-based safety training for managers and supervisors at each worksite.

Bridgestone conducts risk assessments to better promote the overall safety of new operations, projects, and equipment, and sets targets for equipment safety.

Bridgestone is also in the process of expanding safety-risk assessments beyond equipment to include work performed at production facilities, logistics sites, and retail stores.

Risk assessments are also being conducted at motorsport sites (e.g., setting up tents, tire and wheel assembly, etc.) to address any risks that are identified.

To further advance its safety culture, in August 2021, Bridgestone began focusing on the uniform implementation of safety measures for 12 types of machines. In 2022, it added safety requirements for equipment for smarter factories as a measure to accelerate Bridgestone’s transformation in manufacturing toward becoming a sustainable solutions company. Bridgestone will do this by applying global standards to machinery and equipment and actively introducing new technologies that incorporate digital technologies, sensing, and AI control, such as the detection of human presence in hazardous areas.

The safety maturity assessment introduced in 2021 indicates the level of realization of the Bridgestone Safety Mission Statement. Bridgestone has developed a safety maturity assessment tool based on its common global safety standards. Assessments are conducted in an interview style with a focus on four “pillars”: [1] Leadership, [2] Teammate Engagement, [3] Organization, and [4] Systems. Monitoring the progress of assessment contributes to identifying common global issues, confirming the effectiveness of the PDCA cycle on safety activities and making sure continuous improvement activities are being implemented.

Image of assessment sheet

On-site interview (Left: South Africa, Right: United States)

Based on the results of the assessments, Bridgestone is identifying potential issues and making improvements company-wide as well as at each site and SBU. It is also preparing to implement assessments at non-production-related facilities, such as logistics sites and retail shops. Assessment results, such as for safety maturity, will yield strengths that can be best leveraged globally as well as points needing improvement that can be addressed to continue to enhance the safety culture. In 2023, Bridgestone also started to create a maturity assessment check sheet focused on fire risk.

Under the new global program, master assessors and assessors who conduct safety maturity assessments are being certified. Over time, Bridgestone’s goal is to improve awareness and implementation levels worldwide.

To raise safety awareness and cultivate knowledge about creating safe workplaces, in addition to safety training offered locally at every Bridgestone location in accordance with legal requirements and internal requirements, Bridgestone provided Group-wide safety training as follows.

Ongoing safety training is also conducted throughout Bridgestone to meet both its own standards and local regulatory requirements wherever Bridgestone operates.

The Fundamental Area Safety Group will continue to work on the design of a global framework of best practices to enhance the awareness and behavior of all employees through dedicated communication, educational tools, and full support from leadership.

Bridgestone is working to lower risks by pursuing occupational safety in manufacturing locations, stores, and warehouses according to ISO 45001-based global risk assessment standards. It also conducts risk assessments when any new equipment is introduced, or when any new or revised work practices are determined. Efforts involve conducting assessments to identify risks and establish engineering controls and implementing appropriate work procedures to reduce the risks of serious injury.

Bridgestone actively implements measures to mitigate residual risks identified through risk assessments, including the integration of AI and other new technologies to address potential operational risks.

For example, Bridgestone is currently testing AI paired with cameras to identify potential safety hazards. This system detects possible vehicle-vehicle and pedestrian-vehicle collisions and unsafe behaviors in manufacturing and logistics, allowing us to enhance traffic management solutions and provide targeted employee training.　Bridgestone is also advancing the introduction of AI support technology for mill rolls.

Case Introduction:

The AI Mill Roll Detection System is a proactive solution designed to protect our teammates operating in high-risk zones. It automatically detects unsafe behaviors and instantly stops machines, sending real-time alerts to supervisors and Safety teams for rapid intervention. This minimizes the chance of incidents and ensures a safer workplace. The system’s unique ability to observe and analyze recurring unsafe behaviors—such as poor positioning or risky habits—provides unbiased data for targeted coaching and long-term safety improvement.

This system does more than just stop machinery; it fosters a deeper culture of safety. By capturing data on recurring behavioral patterns, it allows us to provide evidence-based coaching and long-term risk reduction strategies. This initiative aligns with ”Bridgestone E8 Commitment,” driving improvements in operational “Efficiency”, process simplification (“Ease”), and employee “Empowerment”. By shifting from a reactive mindset to one of proactive prevention, we are creating a smarter, more reliable workplace where our teammates can perform their best, backed by the industry's advanced protective tools.

Other Pilot projects:

• AI-based safety support device for cranes: A camera monitors the operator, and if AI detects that the operator moves under the suspended load of the crane, it activates an alert.
• Tire burst prediction device: A sensor is activated when a tire is inflated, and if it detects an abnormal vibration, air is automatically released safely.
• Reduction of ergonomic risk: AI-based digital applications are being used. Please refer to the “Industrial hygiene initiatives” section on this page for detailed information.

Bridgestone continues to assign and train safety engineers as experts in equipment safety. Based on the results of risk assessments for existing operations and equipment and for new or modified projects, it identifies any equipment that carries a high injury risk and puts safety measures in place.

Bridgestone established a global standard, the “Management of Near Misses and Hidden Dangers,” to report incidents and unforeseen circumstances that did not lead to an accident but might occur again. In case of an incident, Bridgestone strives to prevent recurrence by taking measures based on this standard.

As part of its efforts to manage work environments, Bridgestone issued a global standard on ergonomics to identify improvement opportunities and mitigate workload.

Through the risk assessment of musculoskeletal workload, Bridgestone is quantitatively assessing risks and making improvements. Bridgestone has begun a trial of a digital application that uses AI to assess musculoskeletal risk based on the operator's posture.

In addition, as a measure to prevent heat stroke, Bridgestone has installed equipment to circulate cool air throughout plants. It has also established a global standard for heat stroke prevention. By implementing both engineering and administrative measures, Bridgestone will continue to realize smarter and more comfortable work environments.

Disaster prevention is another key safety value for Bridgestone. Based on lessons learned from past incidents, Bridgestone created the Disaster Prevention Global Guidelines, which focus on emergency drills, including firefighting drills, and electrical wiring inspections. As with injuries, Bridgestone shares information on accidents involving fire and any subsequent measures taken to prevent similar accidents throughout the Group. Bridgestone also designated September 8 as Bridgestone Group Disaster Prevention Day. All company worksites conduct emergency drills every year on that day.

Moving forward, Bridgestone will continue to work on improving fire prevention in the workplace by including fire risk mitigation in the new safety policy. Bridgestone established fire risk assessments as part of the Bridgestone Global Safety Management System Standards, which are being implemented at SBU and worksite levels. The assessments will enable each site to identify and mitigate fire risks from both internal and external sources.

In 2025, disaster prevention one-point lessons were rolled out to all global bases to remind employees of what they should do at site on Disaster Prevention day’s activities.

In order to pass on the lessons learned from past fires to the next generation, Bridgestone created a video to raise awareness of disaster prevention and deployed it to all global bases. The video is designed to convey lessons learned from past fires and their impact on society and business in a way that is easy to understand for employees who are unfamiliar with the fires that occurred. The video helps encourage employees to take a personal stake in engaging in disaster prevention activities.

Excerpt from the video

Training using the video (Thailand)

*1：The completion of one cycle of training for managers resulted in a decrease in participant numbers.

Bridgestone also holds training sessions at the center for non-employees to convey the danger of fire and the importance of daily preparedness through hands-on programs.

Bridgestone Health and Productivity Management Policy

To empower each and every employee to take on challenges and achieve growth, we are committed to creating workplaces where employees can work healthily and with energy and enthusiasm, and to promoting the maintenance and improvement of their physical and mental well-being.

Through these initiatives, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of value creation and enable diverse talent to shine through spreading success and increasing the confidence of individuals.

To fulfill Bridgestone’s mission of “Serving Society with Superior Quality,” it is essential that each and every employee leads a fulfilling life, and health serves as the very foundation for this.
We believe that when employees are physically and mentally healthy, full of energy, and able to perform at their best through continuous challenge and growth, Bridgestone itself can achieve sustainable growth.
Under this “Health and Productivity Management Policy,” revised in 2026, we will work together as a company to promote health, aiming to become an organization where employees can work with engagement and well-being.

Health Management promotion framework

Under Bridgestone’s health management promotion framework, the Global CEO serves as the chief of health management, while a health management promotion team collaborates with the chief industrial physician, regional general affairs and labor relations managers, health management centers, health insurance associations, and labor unions to promote measures aimed at putting the Health Management Policy into practice.

Health management measures

Based on the Health Management Policy, Bridgestone has formulated a strategic map outlining goals, measures to address health issues, and indicators needed to reach the goals. Guided by the policy and map, it aims not simply to reduce sick leave but also to boost productivity and engagement by enabling healthy, energetic employees to thrive. In collaboration with the Bridgestone Health Insurance Association, Bridgestone is working on various health management measures across Japan to enhance the health literacy of employees (their interest in and ability to manage health).

Regular health checkups, cancer screening

Based on Japan’s Industrial Safety and Health Act, Bridgestone conducts regular and special health checkups for employees. Employees with health issues receive appropriate guidance from industrial physicians and other professionals at in-house health management centers. Bridgestone also incorporates screening for stomach, colon, lung, and prostate cancer into regular health checkups, targeting early detection and treatment. In addition, to improve the screening rate for breast and uterine cancer specific to women, Bridgestone is raising awareness through videos and e-learning, and introducing mobile health checkup services that can be accessed in-house (some screening can be received at the same time as regular health checkups). Bridgestone is also expanding opportunities for screening through the introduction of network-based health checkups^* and enhanced financial subsidies. These steps enabled Bridgestone to achieve its target of a 60% screening rate in Japan in 2022.

Follow-up measures, health guidance

As a measure to follow-up on regular health checkups, Bridgestone has established its own standards for high-risk and near-high-risk health conditions, allowing for the visualization of target individuals and the provision of health guidance through health management centers, as well as encouraging at-risk employees to seek medical attention. By standardizing numerical criteria and responses among target individuals across the company, Bridgestone aims to support reliable medical consultations, improve employee health, and ensure safe working environments.

Furthermore, to prevent the onset and worsening of lifestyle-related diseases brought about by metabolic syndrome (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.) and the serious complications that accompany them (heart attacks, strokes, etc.), Bridgestone is working in cooperation with various Group companies to integrate specific health guidance into the follow-up measures, with the aim of boosting implementation rates. This includes steps to strengthen the implementation framework by fostering an environment that makes it easier to receive guidance, including using information and communication technology (ICT) and enabling in-person consultations during working hours at plants. As a result, Bridgestone has achieved its target of a 60% implementation rate for specific health guidance in Japan, and will continue working to prevent the onset and worsening of lifestyle-related diseases.

Measures to control smoking

To maintain and improve employee health, Bridgestone is pursuing initiatives to lower employee smoking rates through both passive and active smoking prevention measures. Specifically, Bridgestone implemented a smoking ban during working hours in 2020 as a passive smoking prevention measure, shut down indoor smoking areas in 2022, and put in place a complete ban on smoking on company premises in July 2025. To prevent active smoking, Bridgestone encourages employees to participate in programs that support stopping smoking (online stop-smoking clinics, offering employee stories about the experience of stopping smoking with the use of nicotine patches, gum, etc.). Furthermore, Bridgestone is focusing on educational and awareness-raising activities, including holding seminars to properly educate employees about the effects of tobacco. Bridgestone will continue to actively encourage participation in programs to stop smoking and activities to educate employees and raise awareness, with the goal of achieving its target for Japan of a smoking rate of under 12% by 2035.

Health seminars and events

In collaboration with the Bridgestone Health Insurance Association, Bridgestone is developing health seminars and events using the health support web service, PepUp, as a platform. It has broadcast online health seminars on various topics by experts and held various events to help employees adopt desirable lifestyle habits in areas such as exercise, diet, and sleep. Bridgestone aims to improve the health literacy of each employee by offering incentives to employees who take part in the events and to employees who demonstrate desirable lifestyle habits. Going forward, it will visualize the rate of participation in various events to encourage participation among the various business sites.

Education on care by supervisors and self-care

Bridgestone has established mental health guidelines in line with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s policy on mental health in workplaces. Each business site formulates a mental health promotion plan and, with the cooperation of mental health officers assigned to each site (public health nurses, nurses, etc.), provides mental health education to realize a workplace environment in which all employees can feel at ease and live up to their full potential. In 2021, Bridgestone formulated and has been running a training program for all employees that allows them to progress in stages, from finding out about issues to understanding and being attentive to them, and finally being able to act on and communicate about the issues. Bridgestone also conducts training by job position as well as training targeting new employees and employees who have been promoted. By pursuing ongoing education on both care by supervisors and self-care, Bridgestone aims to create an organization that balances employee health with the growth of the company.

Stress test group analysis

Bridgestone uses the results of group analysis of stress tests to analyze stress trends at the workplace level. Based on the results, it makes improvements to workplaces based on the workplace environment issues and stressors identified, which ties into the creation of more comfortable working environments. In 2023, Bridgestone added questions about psychological safety to stress test items and is aiming for further improvements by visualizing the organization’s psychological safety score. Since the start of initiatives to improve workplaces in 2021, the percentage of workplaces with high-stress issues has been declining year by year.

*1 Average response rate to the question: “On a scale from 1% to 100%, where 100% is the best job performance you could have at your job if unimpeded by sickness or injury, how would you rate your overall job performance on the days you worked during the past four weeks (28 days)?” (Single-Item Presenteeism Question, University of Tokyo) from the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (16,491 respondents, 97.5% response rate)

*2 Percentage of respondents who reported not having any absences or taking a leave of absence of one month or more due to health problems, in response to the question “How many days did you take off work due to your own illness in the past year?” from the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (16,491 respondents, 97.5% response rate)

*3 Average response rate to the work engagement questions “I am satisfied with my job” and “My job is worth doing” from the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (“Very much so”=4 points, “Moderately so”=3 points, “Somewhat”=2 points, “Not at all”=1 point) (16,491 respondents, 97.5% response rate)

External recognition for the initiatives

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Outstanding Organizations of KENKO Investment for Health system recognizes corporations, including large and small businesses, that are particularly outstanding in their practice of health management, based on health promotion initiatives advocated by the Nippon Kenko Kaigi (Japan Health Conference). In the large enterprise category, top-ranking corporations are recognized as “White 500” companies.

Bridgestone has been certified as an Outstanding Organization of KENKO Investment for Health a total of five times since the system was established in 2017. It was also recognized as a “White 500” company for the fourth time in 2026.