Health and Safety of Employees

Health and safety activities for all members at Nikon Group companies in Japan

Nikon Corporation maintains "Policies for Health and Safety" to secure the Health and Safety of its employees— the foundation of all corporate activity— and to be a vibrant corporation where everyone feels safe and lives actively. In addition to having a statutory Health and Safety committee, Nikon Corporation has its own special Central Health and Safety Committee, which investigates and deliberates on matters related to the company's Health and Safety policies and on the basic measures taken to maintain and promote employees' health. This committee is composed of representatives of both labor and management to ensure that the opinions of employees are actively incorporated into the measures implemented by the company. At all its workplaces, a set of health and safety targets have been formulated based on the workplace goals and policies, and relevant activities are conducted with the participation of all members.
Moreover, all workplaces are reducing their risk factors through risk assessments. As a result of these activities, the rates of frequency and severity of accidents resulting in lost work time at Nikon Corporation and Group companies in Japan are well below the average for the manufacturing industry nationwide.

Severity Rates at Nikon Corporation and Group Companies in Japan

• *"0.00" indicates a rate of less than 0.005.

Preventing damage to health from overwork and promoting mental health

Nikon Corporation places great importance on protecting its employees from the health-damaging effects of overwork and on caring for their mental health. We are particularly diligent when it comes to mental health care. Initiatives include development of a consultation system, screening employees for poor mental health at regular health examinations and following up on their results, educating our managers, and offering full support for those returning to work after a mental health leave. In the year ended March 31, 2012, we also sought to promote personal health maintenance by distributing a stress web test to Nikon Group employees.

Raising health and safety management standards in the Nikon Group

Nikon Corporation is working to increase health and safety management standards by providing various types of training for employees in charge of health and safety at Group companies in Japan, and by implementing policies and measures related to health and safety through its Personnel and Administrative Affairs Meeting for Group companies in Japan. In the year ended March 31, 2012, we worked to prevent occurrences of similar accidents by taking the database of accident data posted on the Nikon Group intranet and sharing it across the Nikon Group.
In order to ensure the safety of Nikon Group employees taking on restoration work at Nikon (Thailand) Co., Ltd., which had sustained damage during the 2011 floods in Thailand, we conducted awareness-raising activities (such as strengthening measures against infectious diseases and pointing out occupational precautions) and we provided health and safety guidance based on the results of on-site reviews conducted by the Nikon Corporation Health and Safety Department.
In addition, Sendai Nikon has been certified according to OHSAS 18001, an international certification standard for occupational health and safety management systems, since December 2001 and Nikon (Thailand) Co., Ltd. since September 2010.

Lawsuit over former contract worker

In March 1999, a contract worker, who had been working at Nikon Corporation's Kumagaya Plant, took his own life, and the worker's bereaved family instituted a lawsuit claiming overwork. In September 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that it would not accept our application for final appeal against the case. We will continue to give due consideration to the health and safety of the people working at Nikon Group companies.