Awareness Raising on Occupational Health and Safety in the Company and Human Resources Development

Awareness Raising and Education on Occupational Health and Safety in the Company

Following the establishment of the Occupational Health and Safety Policy, copies of a poster designed to raise the awareness and understanding of the policy among Group employees were distributed to all our workplaces, branches, and offices, as well as to offices and plants of Group companies in Japan and overseas. The poster shows the president's commitment to ensuring occupational health and safety and quality across the Sumitomo Forestry Group. The "SAFETY FIRST" policy applies to all Group businesses and occupations. It is posted at conspicuous places and also published in the employee handbook and on our internal website to raise the awareness of the policy among employees.

The Quality Control and Worker Safety Management Department also offers DVD educational materials on occupational health and safety and has also opened a video streaming website for employees to view educational videos. These materials are utilized also in internal education and at safety conferences across the Group.

Occupational Health and Safety Award

In April 2026, the Sumitomo Forestry Group held the Occupational Health and Safety Award Ceremony for Fiscal 2025. Based on the concept of "SAFETY FIRST," the award is given to the top entity of each head office department and division that has achieved results in raising workplace safety awareness and promoting safety activities to eliminate occupational injuries. In fiscal 2025, four companies were given commendation at the ceremony.

Purpose of the Occupational Health and Safety Award

・Raising awareness of occupational health and safety activities (especially zero occupational injury) with the participation of all employees
・Nurturing a culture of mutual respect
・Motivating employees, branches, and Group companies

Division	Recipient	Reason for the award
Housing Division	Sasazawa Construction Co., Ltd.	In fiscal 2025, the company reduced occupational injuries that required four or more days of leave to zero. Giving first priority to safety, managers—including the president of the company—started to carry out on-site patrols once or twice a month in 2024. Managers on these unannounced patrols checked the ordinary status of each workplace, including risks and compliance with work procedures, and pointed out any issues that should be addressed. They also had dialogues with employees on site during patrols, and used the information they gained to make improvements based on the employees’ opinions and proposal. The company thereby increased its workplace safety awareness to ensure the early detection and correction of unsafe behaviors. Engagement in health and safety issues by the upper management thus contributed to creating an accident-free workplace and a culture of safety.
Lifestyle Service Division	Grand Forest Saginomiya, Sumirin Fill Care Co., Ltd.	The Grand Forest Saginomiya is a facility operated by Sumirin Fill Care. It has worked on enhancing its safety management system and improving its workplace environment, which led to achieving zero occupational incidents for two consecutive years. The staff of the facility steadily implemented the 5S activity and safety training as instructed by the Living Service Division. This resulted in improved stress check test results and increased comfort at the workplace. Also, specific measures were taken at the facility to achieve the targets of “no serious back pain” and “no serious occupational incidents caused by the working environment.” These included providing staff members on site with training to prevent back pain and ensuring that the workplace is well organized so that employees can move about safely. Furthermore, the staff now reports about dangerous spots in a systematic manner, and improvements are promptly made on the reported issues. These activities are boosting safety awareness across the facility.
Timber and Building Materials Division	Vina Eco Board Co., Ltd.	Vina Eco Board is committed to building a safe, peaceful workplace environment by continuously taking occupational safety measures as a management priority. The company achieved no lost-time occupational incidents throughout the year, and was also highly rated for its measures to prevent occupational injuries caused by work at height. The company reviewed the procedures for rooftop work to prevent falls and provided safety equipment and education aimed at reducing hazards and risks. Also, it established a horizontal lifeline system to ensure that drivers stay safe when they load products onto a truck at height.
Timber and Building Materials Division	Date Branch, Nihei Co., Ltd.	The Date Branch was highly rated for its activities based on the ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management system. For the past two years, the Branch has been promoting company-wide health and safety activities mainly based on the ISO 45001 requirements and regularly provided employees with education and training to raise their safety awareness. Also, it is proactively improving the workplace to create an even safer, more comfortable environment. When any risks or opportunities to make improvements are identified, the branch implements necessary measures promptly and without fail under a system established for the purpose, thereby greatly preventing occupational injuries. Moreover, the branch checks the effectiveness of the implemented measures and carries out internal audits and management reviews to continuously improve the system through a PDCA cycle. By taking these measures, the branch adheres to ISO 45001 and supports the Sumitomo Forestry Group in building a culture of safety across the board.

*Awarded based on performance in fiscal 2025

Initiatives at Construction Sites

Commendation for Occupational Health and Safety Activities

The Housing Division gives commendation to its branches and branches of the Association of Safe Building Contractors for their proactive implementation of safety and health activities. The commendation is given when the number of consecutive days without any occupational accidents or incidents (excluding injuries requiring 1–3 days of leave and non-lost-time injuries) reaches 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 days.

Initiatives in the Manufacturing Business

Holding the Sumitomo Forestry Group Manufacturing Business Safety Conference

In April 2025, we held the annual Sumitomo Forestry Group Manufacturing Business Safety Conference with a view to build a culture of safety across the Group. This event has been held since 2021, and it connects 10 of our manufacturing bases in Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam online. About 190 people participated in this event, sharing the activity policy for 2025, information about the occupational injuries and fires faced by the Group, and examples of safety measures taken by Group companies. In addition, awards were given for outstanding safety slogans and posters selected from among the entries from Group companies. The Group will continue to hold this annual safety conference in order to eliminate serious incidents that require four or more days of leave.

Human Resources Development

The Sumitomo Forestry Group provides Group companies with training for internal auditors as part of its human resources development effort. In fiscal 2021, the Quality and Occupational Safety Management Department started ISO 45001 internal auditor training courses, and in fiscal 2025, 38 employees (37 in the internal auditor qualification course and one in the standard explanation course) completed the courses. Since fiscal 2021, a total of 244 employees have been qualified as internal auditor. An e-learning course on "Occupational Health, Safety, and Quality " was also established and is provided through the internal website. In addition, the Quality and Occupational Safety Management Department lends out DVD materials on occupational health and safety for use in employee education and safety conferences across the Sumitomo Forestry Group. Moreover, we have opened a video streaming site for employees to view educational videos on the Internet. We will continue to strengthen our safety system by providing guidance and advice to all Group companies.

FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
39	66	52	43

*Including those who have obtained qualifications through external training

Title	Form	Purpose	Object	Number of people attending (persons)
What is ISO for your organization's operations? [Began in August 2021]	e-learning	Understand the basics of ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management systems to address related organizational issues and concerns in a systematic manner.	Sumitomo Forestry Group companies (some excluded)	2,799^*
ISO 45001-based management systems [Began in November 2021]	e-learning	Go one step beyond the basics of ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management systems to address related organizational issues and concerns in a systematic manner.	Sumitomo Forestry Group companies (some excluded)	2,692^*
What does “Safety First” mean to the Sumitomo Forestry Group? Know more about our safety policy! [Began in February 2025]	e-learning	Deepen understanding of the Sumitomo Forestry Group Occupational Health and Safety Policy and promote health and safety activities with the participation of all employees.	Sumitomo Forestry Group companies (some excluded)	9,298^*
You may know it, but you don't know it!? Risk Assessment Part 1: Let's learn the basics, key points! [Began in December 2022]	e-learning	Understand what is safety, what is risk, and what is a source of danger, and understand what is risk assessment.	Sumitomo Forestry Group companies (some excluded)	308^*
Corporate responsibility for occupational injuries [Began in June 2023]	e-learning	Understand the importance of corporate responsibility for occupational accidents and the magnitude of the risks posed by the violation of related rules. Designed to contribute to the creation of a culture of safety.	Sumitomo Forestry Group companies (some excluded)	467^*
Occupational safety and health activities to eliminate accidents [Began in November 2023]	e-learning	Based on the understanding of the basics of the Industrial Safety and Health Act, learn about the 5S concept and the process of occupational health and safety activities, and review occupational health and safety activities. By enhancing on-site "protecting capacity," create an environment in which all can continue to work with peace of mind.	Sumitomo Forestry Group companies (some excluded)	672^*
ISO 45001-based Management Systems Internal Auditor Training Seminar	Group training	Learn about the overall requirements of ISO 45001 and the key points of internal audit techniques through training that includes practical exercise to improve internal audit skills.	Sumitomo Forestry Group companies	38

*Cumulative total as of the end of December 2025

Safety Education

Domestic Manufacturing Business

We conduct safety training when employees are assigned to a plant to enhance their awareness of safety by briefing them on the purpose of wearing protective equipment and the rules for safe work. In particular, to employees handling high-risk equipment, such as forklifts, circular saws and other cutting tools, as well as roll spreaders and other rotating parts, we provide external instructor training and safety simulation training to raise their awareness of risks inherent in their work.

We began providing ongoing safety training for employees in fiscal 2024 to enhance workplace safety. We work to raise employees' compliance awareness by communicating safety policies and goals to them and encouraging them to hold discussions on the rules that are not being followed.

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Occupational Health and Safety Management System

Overseas Manufacturing Business

For our overseas manufacturing companies, we are promoting a culture of respect for human life and safety-first manufacturing under the fundamental policy of "safety takes precedence over all else." In fiscal 2025, we included the elimination of accidents involving rotating machinery (such as rollers and blades) and the enhancement and thorough implementation of fire prevention procedures in our key focus areas.

Construction Sites

Training Designed to Improve Occupational Health and Safety Awareness

We provide health and safety managers, construction site safety and health supervisors (contractors) and those engaging in various jobs at construction sites with health and safety training, in which we share specific examples related to occupational health and safety. Also, we provide special education (as defined in Article 59, Paragraph 3 of the Industrial Safety and Health Act) to ensure the safety of our construction work. In the education, our internal instructors teach participants how to use fall prevention equipment (full-harness safety belts) as well as circular saws, grinders^* and other electric tools, the use of which tends to cause injuries due to misuse, although they are simply designed and easy-to-use tools.

*An electric tool that uses a rotating grinding stone to cut materials

Special training on the use of circular saws

Special training on the use of full-harness safety belts — Special training on the use of circular saws

Item	FY2022		FY2023		FY2024		FY2025
	Frequency	No. of participants	Frequency	No. of participants	Frequency	No. of participants	Frequency	No. of participants
Training for supervisors and health and safety managers	2	42	1	29	10	321	5	117
Safety training for workers handling circular saws	3	75	1	16	6	142	9	267
Special training for replacing free grinding wheels	3	70	-	-	8	173	5	108
Special training for workers engaged in assembly of scaffolding, etc.	-	-	1	15	1	19	5	124
Special training on the use of full-harness safety belts	8	217	5	150	1	65	6	169
Total	16	404	8	210	26	720	30	785

Elderly Care Business

Internal Training

We regard human resources as an important element for maintaining and improving the quality of our nursing care services. Accordingly, Sumirin Fill Care and Sumirin Care Life systematically conduct a variety of training programs for human resources development. For example, they are holding practical training on body mechanics to help their staff acquire the skills to provide caregiving services with minimal physical effort based on the understanding of the biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system. This training is designed to help reduce the burden imposed on caregivers and prevent them from suffering back pain.

The companies also provide all employees working at their care facilities with psychological training to help them manage and deal with anger. Controlling anger can help them reduce work stress and improve their communication with residents and users of the facilities.

Occupational Health and Safety