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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 the Bridgestone Group operates around the world, the Safety Mission Statement is prominently displayed for all to see. Together with the display, the Group maintains programs to ensure all employees embody the Safety Mission Statement.

This mission serves as a blueprint for protecting the health and safety of the Group’s employees and contractors. These standards must continue to evolve as the Group continuously learns from experience, while ergonomic risks increase with the aging of populations, as regulations change, as machinery and equipment ages and as new technologies are progressively introduced at its sites. The Group is also proactively promoting the highest levels of safety culture within the new businesses it develops or acquires.

The Group also has the Bridgestone Health and Safety Management Policy (Guideline of safety, Industrial Hygiene and disaster prevention activities in the Group), which is approved by the Global Quality Management Committee (GQMC) chaired by the GQMC leader, Chief Quality Management Officer (CQMO). The policy summarizes its safety activities based on the Safety Mission Statement in order to inform our decision-making when implementing Bridgestone’s safety management system. The policy covers compliance with health and safety related laws and regulations, risk assessment 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 (55KB)

Under the oversight of Global EXCO members, including the Global CEO, the Group’s Fundamental Area Safety Group within the Global Quality Management Committee (GQMC) manages and responds to global risks, challenges and opportunities related to health and safety.

The Fundamental Area Safety Group has established five task forces:

1. Monitoring and suggestion
2. System content standardization
3. Metrics/KPI’s to visualize perfect safety
4. Safety activities for retail stores and warehouses
5. Safety rule compliance and safety education.

The Group exchanges examples of best practice with the strategic business units (SBUs) and Global Business Support (GBS) through regular safety meetings, and promotes related activities in consultation with other global committees to create better synergy.

The task force for “Monitoring & suggestion” 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 OHS-related risk assessment activities to the Auditing Committee, which is made up of Board members, and Global EXCO.

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

To encourage cooperation on substantial safety issues from a management perspective in Japan, the Bridgestone corporate officer in charge of safety and disaster prevention works together with general affairs, health management and other divisions to promote company-wide occupational health and safety activities, identify issues, and confirm progress on implementing the fundamental safety activities.

The Central Health and Safety Committee is a company-wide organization comprising representatives of both labor and senior management (including relevant vice presidents, directors, etc.). The committee meets to proactively discuss risk mitigation and improvements in workplace health and safety twice a year.

Bridgestone occupational health and safety management

* CQMO: Chief Quality Management Officer, Vice President and Senior Officer, Bridgestone Corporation

To track progress toward the “Perfect safety workplace” outlined in the Safety Mission Statement, the Group 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, the Group has established four KPIs and monitors the results annually as follows.

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

In 2022, across the Group, there were 24 serious injuries^*1 and one fatality among employees at its 4,884 production and logistics sites and retail shops.

The Group conducts investigations and shares findings with related departments when a serious work-related accident occurs within the Group including contractor’s accidents. Countermeasures based on root cause analysis are introduced to prevent recurrence. This includes identifying priority equipment/machines to be addressed based on past accidents and the start of activities to create a global standard for preventing electric shock and heat stroke. The Group also has procedures to investigate and analyze work-related injuries, ill health, and diseases based on its severity.

The Group 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 2022, the LTIFR and severity rate of operations in Japan only was below the average of both the Japanese manufacturing industry and rubber product manufacturing.

The Group’s safety-related data is verified by SOCOTEC Certification Japan, a third-party institution, to ensure the accuracy and transparency of this information. The Group will continue to implement global safety standards.

Independent Assurance Report (2.2MB)

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

To reduce injuries associated with these five major risks, the Group has established the global safety standards including risk assessment, Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO), mobile equipment, work in high places, hoist/crane operation, handling large/heavy tires and tire inflation. In 2022, serious injuries related to the five major risks for all serious injuries dropped to 32%.

The Group is also developing a digital platform that is enhancing employees’ engagement and their ability to manage safety activities and effective execution of safety related projects.

To further advance its safety culture, in 2022 the Group focused on uniform implementation of safety measures for 12 specific machines. In 2022, it also defined global common safety requirements of heavy object handling task and maintenance tasks.

As mentioned earlier, the Group 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 March 2023, 50 manufacturing plants have obtained ISO 45001 certification (46% of a total 110 plants), 10 manufacturing plants have obtained Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) certification and other certifications (9% of a total 110 plants) in various countries, and all facilities are adopting Group’s global standards.

The Group manufacturing sites use checklists to assess OHS standards, including compliance with applicable laws and regulations, while further improving working safety levels.

The Group uses internal checklists to confirm that safety training, education and drills are implemented: specifications on work procedures are properly drafted; any abnormalities are reported and marked for corrective action; and fire equipment is checked daily.

The Group has established 39 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, and has implemented these standards to all sites across the organization. In 2022, four new standards were created, three of them related to retail shops. The Group is also creating global standards for logistics sites and retail shops as well as production sites.

The Group implements ”Bridgestone safety fundamental activities” at all the work sites. These activities stipulate basic safety practices: the 3S (seiri, seiton and seiso meaning select and remove, sort, and keep clean); KY (kiken yochi meaning preempting hazards); RA (risk assessment); and Safety Rules (including compliance with standards). All these basic safety practices are conducted uniformly at all work sites and by all employees as ongoing initiatives.

In 2022, all approximately 140,000 of the Group employees received additional safety training and 83 instructors were trained to promote the safety fundamental activities.

Not only sharing “safety activity standards”, which defines specific actions to take to proceed with the implementation, but also assigning instructors who have thorough knowledge of ”Bridgestone’s safety fundamental activities” to each work site to develop and execute uniform safety activities at all the work sites.

The Group also conducts level-based safety education for managers and supervisors at each work site.

The Group conducts risk assessment to better promote overall safety of new operations, projects and equipment, setting targets for equipment safety.

Also, the Group is in the process of expanding safety-risk assessments beyond equipment to include work performed in production, logistics sites and retail shops. Future efforts will include new technology to improve worker safety, such as human detection in hazardous areas.

To further advance its safety culture, in August 2021, the Group began focusing on uniform implementation of safety measures for 12 specific machines/equipment. In 2022, safety requirements for equipment were added for smarter factories, as accelerate our transformation in manufacturing toward becoming a sustainable solutions company by applying global standards to machinery and equipment and actively introducing new technologies that incorporate digital, sensing, and AI control.

The safety maturity assessment introduced in 2021 indicates the level of realization of the Bridgestone Safety Mission Statement. The Group has developed a safety maturity assessment tool based on its global common safety standards. 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.

Assessments started at production sites from 2022 with the goal of completing assessments at all production sites by 2024. The Group is also preparing for implementation at non-production facilities such as logistics sites and retail shops. The assessment results like safety maturity assessment will yield strengths that can be best leveraged globally, and points needing improvement that can be addressed to continue to enhance safety culture. The Group will also create a maturity assessment check sheet focused on fire risk in 2023.

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

To raise safety awareness and cultivate knowledge to create a safe workplace, in addition to safety training offered locally at every Bridgestone location due to its legal requirements and Group’s own requirements, Group-wide safety training was provided as follows.

Ongoing safety training is also conducted across the Group to meet both the Group’s own standards and local regulatory requirements wherever the Group 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 the leadership.

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

The company continues to assign and train safety engineers (SEs) 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.

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

In addition, the company seeks to counteract heatstroke by installing air cooling machines and encouraging more vigorous airflow inside plants and distributes drinks and electrolyte tablets to employees and contractors to help prevent heatstroke.

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

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

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

In addition, the company seeks to counteract heatstroke by installing air cooling machines and encouraging more vigorous airflow inside plants and distributes drinks and electrolyte tablets to employees and contractors to help prevent heatstroke.

The goal at Bridgestone Corporation is “to maintain a sound labor force and create a comfortable workplace,” and the company conducts occupational health management, including healthcare programs, with that aim in mind.

Health and productivity management

The Bridgestone Corporation values the physical and mental well-being of its employees as a key management priority, seeing it as vital to a dynamic organization where everyone can work safely and with deep personal fulfillment and satisfaction. The company practices health and productivity management to support the health of each employee in accordance with the Group’s mission of "Serving Society with Superior Quality."

In Japan, the company aims to maximize productivity by fostering a healthy workforce that helps employees improve their personal health and brings a natural vitality to every task. In partnership with the Bridgestone Health Insurance Society, the company implements the following six core programs while also working to improve employees' health literacy.

Six core programs

▪Smoking cessation

This program seeks to reduce the smoking rate among employees in Japan in addition to preventing passive smoking. The company aims to lower the smoking rate to 30% by 2022 and 12% by 2025 by encouraging employees to receive medical assistance for smoking cessation (for a one-month period) and participate in a cessation support program (three-month period). In April 2020, the company banned smoking during work hours.

▪Cancer detection and treatment

The Bridgestone Corporation conducts regular and special health check-ups, as well as health exams for employees working outside Japan as required under the Industrial Safety and Health Law. Industrial physicians and other medical personnel offer healthcare guidance to employees with health issues, usually at the Company’s Health Care Center.

Furthermore, in order to increase screening rates and achieve early detection and treatment, the company provides at-work cancer screening, informs employees of subsidies for screening expenses, and raises awareness through videos and e-learning. In addition to using a bus to provide screening services, the company started to offer screening services through a nationwide network^*1 of clinics made available through the Bridgestone Health Insurance Society in July 2021.

As a priority issue for FY2021, the company aimed to provide women's cancer screening at all sites in Japan and achieve a screening rate of at least 50%. This effort was aimed at early detection as well as to help employees receiving cancer treatment to return to the workplace.

*1 Made possible through an agreement between Bridgestone Health Insurance Society and a medical examination enforcement organization.

▪Lifestyle diseases

The company uses information and communication technologies to encourage employees to use a health guidance program^*1 designed to improve lifestyle-related health outcomes. It also encourages use of an online health improvement service available by smartphone or computer.

*1 A program for employees deemed high risk for serious lifestyle diseases based on the results of their annual health check-up. Eligible employees receive free guidance and support from a medical expert for improving their lifestyle habits.

▪Mental health care

The company has developed a guideline on mental health and established a mental health plan for each office that complies with Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare guidelines on self-care, consultation line care, on-site industrial medical staff care, and off-site care.

Based on a mental health plan, every site in Japan has a health promotion officer of nurse, public health nurse, or other health professional who organizes mental health team. It provides counseling services under the guidance of an industrial physician and is supported by an external Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that also covers employees’ families.

▪Infectious disease

Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the company prepared response procedures for suspected cases of infection among employees and sent this document to all sites in Japan. The company has updated its response procedures consulting with industrial physicians whenever necessary to prevent further spread, based on changing conditions and the newest information announced by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

▪Integration of health-related efforts

The Bridgestone Corporation's General Affairs and Health Management Promotion Division manages the advancement of the above programs in partnership with the Health Care Center and industrial health staff at each site and with the Bridgestone Health Insurance Society.

The Bridgestone Corporation evaluates the health programs and management status against original standards in five areas of occupational health: overall management, health education, work environment management, work management and health management. The company introduced this evaluation at manufacturing facilities and offices in 2010, extending it to Group companies in Japan in 2011.

Going forward, the company will seek to further enhance health education and improve compliance with occupational health regulations and its own Group standards.