Safety, Health and Disaster Prevention

The Brother Group has formulated the "Basic Safety and Disaster Prevention Policy" and is continuously committed to preventing disasters, injuries, and illnesses among employees and to creating a comfortable workplace by ensuring its activities comply with the OSHMS.^*1

Regulations of System and Control for Disaster Prevention of the Brother Group

In December 2017, the Brother Group established the "Regulations of System and Control for Disaster Prevention of the Brother Group" to ensure the safety of employees and workplaces when a fire breaks out.
These regulations are composed of three sections: (1) "fire prevention management" to take precautions against fires; (2) "firefighting management" to minimize damage from fires; and (3) "personal safety management" to ensure the safety of employees. In April 2021, we added the "clause on precautions regarding high fire risk equipment, work, etc. regarding firefighting equipment etc."
The Brother Group has applied these regulations to its main facilities in and outside Japan.^*2

1. The OSHMS, the initialism for the Occupational Safety and Health Management System, is a safety and health management system established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare with the aim of improving the safety and health standards of workplaces.
2. Scope of Application
   Japan: BROTHER INDUSTRIES, LTD., NISSEI CORPORATION, MIE BROTHER PRECISION INDUSTRIES, LTD., BROTHER LOGITEC LTD., BROTHER ENTERPRISE, LTD.
   Overseas: BROTHER INDUSTRIES, LTD., BROTHER TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) LTD., ZHUHAI BROTHER INDUSTRIES, CO.,LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (VIETNAM) LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (PHILIPPINES), INC., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (U.K.) LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (SLOVAKIA) s.r.o., BROTHER MACHINERY XIAN CO., LTD., TAIWAN BROTHER INDUSTRIES, LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES SAIGON, LTD.

Establishment of the Central Safety, Health and Disaster Prevention Committee

Brother Industries, Ltd. (BIL) has established the Central Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee composed of the Officers of the group facilities in Japan. The Committee is chaired by the Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Officer of BIL.

Conducting regular audits

At the Brother Group's main manufacturing facilities outside Japan, the Workplace Safety and Disaster Prevention Group of BIL's Human Resources Department, which acts as the secretariat of the Central Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee, conducts regular audits to increase the level of safety, health, and disaster prevention and develop local staff.

ISO45001 certification status

Some manufacturing facilities, including Brother Industries (Vietnam) Ltd. and Brother Industries (Philippines), Inc., have been externally certified under ISO 45001. About 8% of the Brother Group facilities had obtained this certification as of March 31, 2024.

For the three-year period from FY2022 to FY2024, the Brother Group facilities have been working to achieve the goal of zero serious accidents.^*1
In FY2022, at a Brother Group manufacturing facility, one serious accident unfortunately occurred in which an employee cut his fingertip by inserting his hand into a machine in operation in order to resolve a malfunction. As measures for preventing recurrence of this accident, we changed the cover of the moving part of the machine in question and other machines of the same type from movable to fixed so that one's hands cannot be inserted while the machine is in operation. In addition, we re-educated employees at manufacturing facilities to stop operation when a machine malfunctions, contact a senior manager, and wait until the malfunction is resolved before starting work.

In FY2023, no serious accidents occurred at BIL and the Brother Group manufacturing facilities. Not satisfied with these achievements, we will continue to conduct risk assessments and hazard prediction training to assess and identify risks and hazards involved in machine and human operations in an effort to improve workplace safety and employee safety awareness.

Data Related to Safety and Disaster Prevention

Number of occupational injuries reported and yearly incident rate at main manufacturing facilities outside Japan (lost-time injuries and non-lost time injuries)^*6

Results related to safety and disaster prevention at major manufacturing facilities including overseas^*7

1. Fatal accidents, accidents resulting in hospitalization of 30 days or more, and accidents resulting in permanent injuries
2. Brother Industries, Ltd.
3. Number of lost-time deaths and injuries from work-related accidents/Total number of working hours x 1,000,000
4. Number of lost-time illnesses from work-related accidents/Total number of working hours x 1,000,000
5. Source: Survey on industrial accidents provided by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan
6. Yearly incident rate: (number of incidents/number of employees) × 1,000
7. Main manufacturing facilities including overseas
   BROTHER INDUSTRIES, LTD., BROTHER TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) LTD., ZHUHAI BROTHER INDUSTRIES, CO., LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (VIETNAM) LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (PHILIPPINES), INC., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (U.S.A.) INC., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (U.K.) LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES (SLOVAKIA) s.r.o., BROTHER MACHINERY XIAN CO., LTD., TAIWAN BROTHER INDUSTRIES, LTD., BROTHER INDUSTRIES SAIGON, LTD.
8. Frequency of worker injuries (number of injuries per working hour): Number of injuries due to occupational accidents/Total number of actual working hours X 1,000,000
9. Occupational accident rate (number of injuries per worker): Total number of injuries due to occupational accidents/Total number of workers

To reduce potential occupational injuries, BIL is striving to improve the work environment so as to prevent accidents by taking the following measures:

Checking workplace safety, health and disaster prevention situation

At each of our major manufacturing facilities, both in Japan and overseas, the Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee members regularly patrol the facilities. If any problems are found, they are quickly resolved. In addition, for facilities where the work environment has changed significantly, such as major changes to production lines, the situation of workplace safety, health, and disaster prevention is checked through patrols by the Chairperson of the Central Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee.

Global dissemination and sharing of information about past disasters and safety and disaster prevention activities

The Brother Group shares information about occupational accidents occurring at its main manufacturing facilities in and outside Japan and countermeasures against them on its intranet and other devices to make such information available at all group facilities. Each facility applies these countermeasures to its workplaces in order to prevent the same or similar accidents from occurring.

At the Brother Safety and Prevention Convention held annually, manufacturing facilities that have engaged in excellent safety and disaster prevention activities are awarded, and case studies of the awarded manufacturing facilities are presented to share information among other facilities. In FY2023, the convention was held in Japan, bringing together relevant parties from facilities around the world to share best practices in safety and disaster prevention activities. This convention had been held online since FY2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. The convention held in Japan was the first time it was held on an on-site basis in four years.

Conducting risk management for operations and equipment

At the Brother Group, it is required to perform an assessment of the risks associated with operations and equipment when installing equipment to take on a new project, when a change has been made to the work location or raw materials, or when there are changes to work methods, such as changes to the tools used or the assembly sequence. This risk assessment identifies potential hazard sources,^*1 such as those resulting in falls, being caught in or between objects, electric shocks, explosions, and fires, striving not to overlook any important hazard sources. Moreover, the assessment identifies other sources that might exist in each work process and evaluates their risk levels to enable appropriate measures to be taken for each level. In addition, the degree of such hazards of equipment is visualized if it is judged to have residual hazards above a certain level even after safety measures based on a risk assessment are taken.

After a certain period of time^*2 has passed since conducting a risk assessment, we will recheck to see if there have been any changes to operations, risks, or the like. In the event of any changes, we conduct a risk assessment again.

1. The causes of risks and the root causes of accidents
2. 3 years, as a guide

To ensure safety and health, BIL annually provides risk prediction training, safety and health education, and so forth for each facility based on the plans formulated at the Safety, Health, and Disaster Prevention Committee. As for the education, BIL offers e-learning training for all BIL employees. In FY2023, 4,183 employees, which represented 97.1% of the intended participants, took the training. BIL also conducts an educational session for new employees every April. In FY2024, this session was held with 95 new employees, the full participation of the intended participants. For mid-career recruits or newly-hired temporary employees, BIL holds educational sessions every month. The sessions held in FY2023 had 80 employees, involving all of the intended participants.
In addition, BIL also provides training tailored to the specific needs of each operation. For example, employees engaged in specialized work involving the handling of chemical substances are provided training tailored to their tasks. Employees who drive company vehicles are required to take traffic safety courses under a permit system. For the facilities outside Japan, training is provided for new and mid-career recruits at each location.

Regarding preparation for disasters, BIL has been making efforts to minimize damage caused by possible disasters at its respective facilities. Such efforts include the consolidation of disaster prevention organizations, evacuation drills, initial firefighting training, and lifesaving training using an AED (automatic external defibrillator), and the legal inspection of fire protection equipment.
In 2007, BIL concluded a memorandum of understanding on support and collaboration in the event of a large-scale disaster with its local community through the mediation of a local administrative body. In addition, since 2014, BIL has been conducting evacuation drills jointly with a neighboring nursery school with which BIL signed a memorandum.
Since 2016, BIL has been conducting training for setting up a disaster headquarters at its head office.

Raising disaster prevention awareness at home

As homeworking has spread, it is now more important than before to raise awareness of disaster preparedness at home and to strengthen the preparedness framework. Against this background, in FY2023, we conducted a questionnaire survey to check disaster prevention awareness within households. Based on the results, we focused on disaster preparedness and stockpiles during normal times and implemented e-learning on preparations that can be made at home using everyday items. E-learning has been provided to 4,250 employees, or 95.4% of the intended participants. In addition, a video that provides more specific details about the content covered in the e-learning course was distributed on the intranet. Specific examples of disaster prevention and stockpiles at home were introduced in order to further raise employees' disaster prevention awareness.

1. Including incoming seconded employees, temporary employees, and fixed-term employees
2. Safety education and disaster prevention training have been provided together
3. Since FY2019, the number of participants has included those in mental health-related education