Occupational Health and Safety

Initiatives

To ensure safety at its operating companies, the JFE Group regularly reports to the Board of Directors, which provides direction and supervision. It also holds discussions on health and safety with the labor unions through the Occupational Health and Safety Committee.

Under the Eighth Medium-term Business Plan, we are working to establish workplace conditions in which everyone at Group and partner companies (including contractors) can work safely. In addition to instilling a strong personal and organizational awareness of safety, the operating companies will continue investing in safety at the same scale as the Seventh Medium-term Business Plan (approximately 10 billion yen per year), advancing the complete separation of moving equipment and personnel through facility modifications, and further promoting multifaceted health and safety management, such as monitoring and detection, using DX.

The JFE Group organizes training programs for newly appointed managers and supervisors to provide information on the Industrial Safety and Health Act and risk assessment regulations and on formulating work plans and policies for health and safety management. In the construction department, we offer programs for local superintendents in charge of construction work (Overall Safety and Health Controller) centered on the Industrial Safety and Health Act as well as related regulations for subcontractors and the Construction Business Act (369 participants in 2024). We also conduct new employee training and position-specific training on mental health (1,367 participants in 2024).

For data related to lost-work injuries at each company, please refer to:

• Social Data: Lost-Work Injuries and Accidents

ST Occupational Health and Safety Initiatives Based on Two Strategies

This is the Group’s health and safety activity policy in 2025: On the safety front, we are promoting independent, self-directed safety activities to ensure regulatory compliance and create accident-free workplaces. On the health front, we are promoting activities based on the Health Declaration to increase the number of employees who can work in good physical and mental health over the long term. In accordance with our goal of achieving zero accidents Groupwide and zero accidents at each workplace, we are implementing the following activities.

For safety, we are striving to establish safety-conscious employees and workplaces by promoting regulatory compliance, conducting activities to prevent recurrence of similar accidents, and engaging in open dialogue with frontline workers to identify and address risks. To create accident-free workplaces, we are also striving to ensure the intrinsic safety of equipment and operations by proactively budgeting to improve workplace issues (safety investments), introducing machinery safety standards, and applying DX technologies, thereby reducing the level of worker risks.

For health, we are pursuing health initiatives based on the Steel Health and Productivity Management Strategy Tree, developed in response to the JFE Group’s Health Declaration.

In order to more independently and systematically promote occupational health and safety management throughout the organization, we established an occupational health and safety management system in accordance with the ISO 45001 international standard and obtained ISO 45001 certification (JIS Q 45001) for all our construction and operating sites. We will continue making workplaces safer and healthier through an ongoing and effective operation of the occupational health and safety management system.

EN Ensuring Employee Health and Improving Occupational Health Level

SH Enhanced Health and Safety Activities and Establishing a Safe and Secure Working Environment

JFE Shoji is implementing the following activities to eliminate unsafe operations that could lead to severe accidents for achieving zero severe accidents at its coil centers and other processing sites.

1. Risk assessment by supervisors patrolling the site and identifying unsafe operations using the recording functions of safety cameras, or by ensuring that each worker is engaged in hazard prediction
2. Comparative study of similar disaster cases and hazard experience training for improving the ability to recognize and avoid unsafe operations
3. Facility improvement for reducing risks, including installation of safety sensors
4. Operation training (slinging for cranes and other skills) and review of operational standards

Furthermore, for each of its Group companies, JFE Shoji assigns a safety manager to spearhead these efforts to raise the level of health and safety activities. To ensure that all JFE Shoji Group companies operate under the same values, safety managers meet every other month to share knowledge and information on occupational health and safety

Annual safety awards are also presented to encourage employees to actively engage in health and safety activities. Through these initiatives, the company will raise the level of safety management within the JFE Shoji Group and continue to maintain safe working environments.

Intrinsic Safety through DX

ST Designing Lines that Protect Even in the Event of Human Error

As part of our safety objectives in 2025 to create accident-free workplaces, we are promoting the use of DX technologies to ensure safety even when someone mistakenly enters a hazardous area. For example, we have introduced person-detection systems where it is impractical to install physical barriers separating internal production line operations from external areas, creating a risk of inadvertently venturing into danger zones. These systems detect someone entering into a hazardous area and can prevent accidents by either immediately interrupting equipment operation or preventing idle equipment from starting. Another example is the introduction of a safety monitoring system that links smartphones with portable gas monitors to detect concentrations of oxygen, carbon monoxide, combustible gases, and hydrogen sulfide, and determine the safety and suitability of working under those conditions. We also use smartphone GPS functions to detect the positions of heavy machinery and other equipment to further safeguard worksite safety. This information is immediately communicated to workers, and recorded location data is used in facility improvements.

Going forward, we will continue introducing DX technologies.

EN Intrinsic Safety at Construction Sites through DX

JFE Engineering is implementing innovative efforts that leverage digital technologies to fundamentally enhance construction site safety.

Three-dimensional simulation technology is used during construction planning to visualize the movements of cranes and structures in advance in order to identify and prevent potential interference risks with high-voltage power lines and surrounding structures before work begins. The technology also optimizes the placement of heavy machinery and material storage areas, as well as worker traffic flow, allowing everyone involved in the project to share a clear overview of the construction process and significantly reducing unnecessary work and errors.

The introduction of inspection robots and drones equipped with 3D measurement technology allows inspections of elevated structures such as viaducts and dimensional surveys of silos that previously required working at height to be performed safely from the ground or other secure locations.

This strategic use of digital technologies not only enhances worksite safety but also leads directly to greater efficiency and reduced costs, thereby contributing to sustainable growth in corporate value.

Health and Productivity Management

Companywide Targets for Each Operating Company

We collaborate with the health insurance association and occupational health staff to maintain and improve employee health. Under the Eighth Medium-term Business Plan, we have set a top-level goal of increasing the number of employees who are physically and mentally healthy and able to perform at a high level, thereby reducing presenteeism. To this end, we are systematically implementing improvement initiatives, such as support for early detection and continued medical treatment as well as smoking cessation and sleep improvement programs.

Presenteeism Performance Results

Specific Operating Company Targets

1. *¹Preliminary figure
2. *²The result for the specific health guidance implementation rate will be added once confirmed.

• Note: At JFE Steel, the attendance rate for regular health checkups and the obesity and smoking rates are managed on a calendar-year basis.

Physical Health Initiatives

Mental Healthcare

The JFE Group conducts four basic initiatives to maintain the mental health of employees: “self-care” for workers who strive to remain aware of stress and take preventive measures; “care by management supervisors” who provide advice to subordinates; “care by industrial health staff” who support employees, managers and supervisors; and “care by human resources outside workplaces,” including specialist clinics and individuals.

JFE’s health insurance union also provides mental health counseling, including a 24-hour hotline for employees and their families (spouse and dependents).

Initiatives on Health Issues

We operate a health management system for continuously and effectively managing the health of all employees, including those on overseas assignments and business trips and those studying abroad.

We particularly seek to ensure that employees working abroad, under healthcare systems that differ from those in Japan, can maintain a healthy lifestyle, along with their accompanying family members, by conducting health checkups and vaccinations before they move overseas, in accordance with Companywide regulations. In a proactive effort to prevent infections, we also provide information on global health issues such as COVID-19, HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during assignment briefings. We will continue to monitor and appropriately respond to global health issues.

ST Promoting Health and Productivity Management to Maintain and Improve Health

To maintain and improve the health of employees and their families, the JFE Group established the Group Health Declaration in 2016. In line with the declaration, JFE Steel launched the Health and Productivity Management Promotion WG and has been setting medium- to long-term companywide goals. We hope these activities will enable all employees to work healthily and vigorously, and we plan to establish a health culture in which every employee practices activities on their own initiative to maintain and improve their health.

In 2016, JFE Steel first focused on physical health and established key initiatives regarding: (1) thorough implementation and reinforcement of physical examinations, (2) preventive health measures, (3) establishment of sound exercise and health habits, and (4) non-smoking and segregated smoking activities. In 2024, the company expanded the scope to include mental health, and it has been promoting health and productivity management at all of its operating sites.

In 2025, it set a top-level goal of increasing the number of employees who can work in good physical and mental health over the long term. To this end, we created a Health and Productivity Management Strategy Tree that organizes specific actions for attaining this goal and are promoting health management across all of our operating sites.

ST Active Exercise^® Health

JFE Steel business sites offer the Active Exercise™ program, designed by West Japan Works to help people increase their physical strength and prevent injuries from falling. The program’s effectiveness in preventing occupational accidents and improving health has even attracted attention outside the company, and through participation in the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s SAFE Consortium, initiatives such as Active Exercise™ and Safe Physical Fitness™ Functional Tests are being promoted not only among on-site partner companies but also among businesses in other industries.

EN Engineering Activities for Boosting Health Based on Health Checkup Data

JFE Engineering maintains a system centered on the Health Management Center of the Human Resources Department, under which industrial health staff at each office and branch office cooperate to promote activities. The company is pursuing initiatives for improving health focused on five domains, including sleep, smoking and obesity issues extracted from past health checkup data, along with cancer and mental health. Every year, the Health Management Center compiles basic health checkup data and prepares the Data Book, which shows changes over time at a glance for the entire Company and major business sites. The center follows the PDCA cycle while reviewing the results of its initiatives.

In FY2024, JFE Engineering established the JFE Wellness Action 5, a set of five clear and practical health behavior guidelines designed to be easily understood and implemented by employees.

Initiatives Based on Past Health Checkup Data

SH Detecting Illnesses at an Early Stage, Maintaining and Promoting Health for Employees and Their Families

JFE Shoji believes that the health of employees and their families holds the key to the further development of the company and is therefore creating workplace environments in which employees can work with vigor.

Past Initiatives