The Sumitomo Rubber Group aims to create a workplace environment where all employees can work happily and safely. Under the slogan “Safety and health take precedence over everything,” we advance activities centered on “building safe equipment” and “developing safe personnel,” while promoting the establishment of a healthy and comfortable sanitary environment to support these efforts. Furthermore, by fostering a safety culture in which everyone participates, we strive to balance business development with social responsibility. We will continue continuous improvement while flexibly adapting to changing environments.
Our Group establishes its safety and health activity guidelines through the Global Safety, Health, and Fire Prevention Committee.
１．Creating Safe Equipment
• We strengthen risk assessments and promote designs that prioritize safety.
• We clarify the role of safety devices, promote standardization and deployment, and provide a safe working environment.
• We reduce risks through the regular inspection and maintenance of equipment.
• We develop work environments that minimize physical burdens and enable diverse workers to work comfortably.
２．Building Safe and Healthy People
• We will implement training programs to raise awareness, aiming to build “safe people.”
• We will conduct continuous personnel development to enhance the effectiveness of risk assessments.
• Foster an open workplace culture to listen to employee voices and drive improvements.
• We establish support systems to address employees’stress and health issues and improve the working environment.
３．Strengthening Management Systems
• We comply with all occupational health and safety laws and regulations and appropriately address external requirements.
• We will thoroughly implement and expand occupational health and safety management based on international standards such as ISO 45001.
• We will continuously improve activities through reliable implementation at each site and collaboration between sites.
• Introduce KPIs reflecting actual activity status and conduct regular monitoring.
This policy applies to employees, stakeholders working at partner companies, and visitors to our facilities.
Furthermore, our group appropriately supervises the status of critical risks—safety, fire prevention, and health—through reports on the activities of the Risk Management Committee (held twice annually), which handles these risks, and through operational status reports from each site, all presented to the Board of Directors.
Our group is working toward the goal of “zero serious accidents,” with “building safe equipment” and “developing safe personnel” as our two pillars. For building safe equipment, we are advancing personnel recruitment and training to implement fundamental safety measures. We are also establishing safety standards for each piece of equipment and operational processes for equipment introduction, advancing efforts toward safe equipment implementation. For developing safe personnel, we are focusing on training risk assessment leaders. Risk assessment leaders are employees who have undergone training in hazard prediction and process risk assessment at occupational safety and health sites, based on our company's safety and health activity guidelines. The objective is to conduct appropriate risk assessments, eliminate hazards in equipment and work operations, and enhance intrinsic safety. In 2025, we successfully trained more leaders than our target. Furthermore, we are clarifying competency requirements for each job category and advancing continuous education and practice based on these requirements. We aim to establish role-appropriate safety behaviors and realize a safe workplace. Our group will ensure the reliable operation of the PDCA cycle at every level and establish a safety culture through occupational safety, health, and fire prevention activities.
Our Group has established the Global Safety, Health, and Fire Prevention Committee to strengthen dialogue with management and enhance management review functions.
We will develop safety promotion leaders at each global site and establish a support framework utilizing a network to sustain highly effective safety activities.
Management will engage in ongoing dialogue with worksites and promote workplace development that incorporates employees' voices.
Our Group promotes proactive safety activities aimed at achieving zero hazards and zero accidents. This involves conducting risk assessments related to safety and health to eliminate hazards and inherently enhance safety. Furthermore, while prioritizing on-site inspections, we actively implement safety audits and safety observations utilizing web tools.
When conducting risk assessments for safety and health regarding existing facilities, we apply the scope defined within our Group's Occupational Safety and Health Manual. However, in some countries, applicable laws and regulations or management standards take precedence.
For the installation (design/manufacturing), expansion, modification, relocation, or transfer of machinery, including new business ventures, conducting risk assessments according to company-wide safety standards is mandated to prevent occupational accidents. This requirement is communicated to all workplaces.
The Sumitomo Rubber Group has obtained certification for the international occupational health and safety management system standard OHSAS 18001.
Since 2018, we have progressively transitioned certification to ISO 45001, completing the transition with the South Africa plant in September 2021.12 plants, representing 50% of our 23 plants, have obtained certification.
| List of Business Bases Certified under ISO 45001 | Certified Sites |
|---|---|
| December 2018 | Changshu Factory, China |
| November 2019 | Miyazaki Factory |
| November 2019 | Izumiotsu Factory |
| November 2019 | Turkey Factory |
| November 2019 | Brazil Factory |
| February 2020 | Hunan Factory, China |
| June 2020 | Shirakawa Factory |
| June 2020 | Nagoya Factory |
| October 2020 | Thailand Factory (natural rubber processing) |
| November 2020 | Indonesia Factory |
| January 2021 | Thailand Factory |
| September 2021 | South Africa Factory |
To protect the safety and health of employees, we continuously strive to create a safe operational environment in which everyone can take on their tasks with confidence. In fiscal 2025, we continued to improve the operational environment by addressing issues associated with heat, noise, dust, organic solvents, and other factors as part of efforts to realize a more pleasant workplace environment. In fiscal 2026, we will maintain these efforts, placing emphasis on implementing countermeasures against heat.
Sumitomo Rubber Industries does not currently manufacture any products incorporating asbestos. Furthermore, at the end of 2006, the Company completed the inspection of spray-applied materials used in its buildings as well as the analysis of mineral-based raw materials, confirming the absence of asbestos-related issues. However, it was confirmed that, among its workforce, a total of 13 people have passed away due to lung cancer, while 54 individuals have succumbed to a mesothelial tumor, with all these cases publicly recognized as occupational fatalities (* in another case, an application for such recognition has been submitted) as of July 2024.
On April 1, 2007, the Company established a special compensation program for individuals who have suffered health damage due to asbestos. Thus, we voluntarily provide special compensation to those whose diseases are recognized as being attributable to occupational exposure to asbestos. Moreover, since March 2007, we have striven to reach out to retirees to encourage them to undergo health checkups aimed at diagnosing the presence of asbestos-related diseases. As a result, 41 people have applied to become holders of a government-issued medical certificate for asbestos-related health damage.
Looking ahead, we will proactively respond to consultation requests from employees.
| 2025 targets |
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|---|---|
| 2025 results |
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| 2026 targets |
1.Safety and health policy
2.Targets
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| Medium- to long-term targets | Enhance safety and fire-prevention knowledge, build a workplace where employees can protect their colleagues, and realize Sustainability management where employees can work peacefully |
We deeply regret the loss of two precious lives in 2025 due to equipment entanglement and flying rim fragments. Learning from the causes of equipment failure and procedural deviations, we will globally advance fundamental enhancements to equipment safety and ensure strict adherence to procedures during hazardous operations.
To achieve zero serious accidents, we will focus on incidents that carry risks leading to serious accidents and take measures to prevent them in advance. We will establish safety standards for each piece of equipment and advance efforts to ensure all equipment meets these standards. Equipment with particularly high-risk levels and critical importance will be prioritized for countermeasures. We aim for all personnel, from new hires to management, to understand and practice safe actions. We will provide training to increase perspectives that can identify hazards, cultivate personnel capable of extracting risks, and prevent accidents before they occur.
Our Group is pursuing its goal of “zero major accidents” through a dual approach of “building safe facilities” and “developing safe personnel.” We have positioned knowledge of intrinsic safety design as a key priority, strengthening education to enhance risk assessment capabilities for identifying hazards and developing leaders. By doing so, we endeavor to mitigate the level of risks affecting safely, fire prevention, and employee health.
We hold a twice-yearly company-wide Occupational Safety & Health and Fire-Prevention Convention attended by internal directors, including the Representative Director and President, as well as all executive officers and heads of all manufacturing sites, with the aim of ensuring that information regarding safety, fire prevention, and employee health is shared among the entire workforce. Through this event, the Group gathers reports on targets for and the progress status in various measures related to safety and health, as well as health and productivity management. By doing so, we endeavor to mitigate the level of risks affecting safely, fire prevention, and employee health.
Our group has continuously conducted fire prevention audits since fiscal year 2007 to identify and improve fire risks. This initiative operates as a global activity encompassing domestic and international locations. Each facility establishes fire prevention committee and conducts comprehensive reviews of fire prevention activities through these audits.
The audits not only verify whether each facility has a system in place to systematically promote fire prevention activities but also focus on the fire prevention awareness of each individual employee. Through on-site interviews, we confirm the level of understanding regarding fire risks and the mechanisms for fire prevention activities, carefully identifying perspectives and issues that are often overlooked in daily operations.
Moving forward, we will continue striving to reduce fire risks through fire prevention audits. Furthermore, by sharing best practices from each facility across the entire group, we will persist in our challenge to achieve “Zero Small Fires and Fires.” Fire Prevention Audit Scene Indonesia Factory.
