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About the Governmental Guidelines for the implementation of Japan's Industrial
Safety and Health Law and Related Regulations
Japan's Industrial Safety and Health Law and related regulations were enacted in 1972 and those are prescribing detailed safety and health measures taken by employers. The government has also made announcement of detailed guidelines for employers to implement measures in compliance with the Industrial Safety and Health Law and Regulations.
1. Industrial Accident Prevention Program
The Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare is required to establish a program,
which shall provide for the main measures for preventing industrial accidents,
and other important matters related to the prevention of industrial accidents
which is the " Industrial Accident Prevention Program".
(Article 6 of the Industrial Safety and Health Law).
This program is established
and announced as a five-year program. The most recent program was determined
in 1998 and will be effective through fiscal 2002.
2. Guidelines on the Education, etc. to enhance the expertise.
Employers are required to make efforts to conduct education and training
to improve the skills of safety supervisors, health supervisors, safety and
health promoters, and health promoters in carrying out their work, with the
aim of enhancing the level of safety and health at workplaces (Article 19-2
of the Industrial Safety and Health Law).
As the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare is also required to announce
guidelines for the proper and effective implementation of this skill-building
education, the Minister has successively announced guidelines on the curricula,
educational hours and other matters since 1989.
- Moreover, the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare has recommended
that employers conduct safety and health education for a certain period of time
or as required for workers who are engaged in dangerous and harmful operations,
and has announced guidelines to this end (Article 60-2 of the Industrial Safety
and Health Law).
-
(1)Educational Guidelines for Safety Supervisors, etc. (1989 and
1994)
- Type of education
- Education at the time of employment: This education is provided for employees
who are engaged in operations prescribed in Item b below for the first
time.
- Periodic and occasional education: Employees who have been engaged in certain
operations shall undergo periodic education, and employees whose job environments
are changed shall undergo occasional education to learn the contents of
the new job.
-
Target employees of the education
-
Safety supervisors
-
Health supervisors
-
Safety and health promoters
-
Health promoters
-
Operations chiefs (operations chiefs of gas welding, forestry cable way,
boiler, wood working machines, and organic solvent handling)
-
Master safety and health supervisors (construction site)
-
Site safety and health supervisors (construction site)
-
Required education time: About one day (7 hours)
(2)
Guidelines on safety and health education for those who are currently engaged
in dangerous or harmful operations (1989, 1990, 1993 and 2000)
-
Type of education
- Periodic and occasional education: Employees who have been engaged in certain
operations shall undergo periodic education and employees whose job places
and/or procedures are changed shall undergo occasional education to learn
the new contents of the job.
-
Target employees
- Workers who are engaged in restricted work operation (Article 59 of the
Industrial Safety and Health Law).
-
Required education time: About one day (7 hours)
3. Technical
Guidelines
- The Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare
is required to announce technical guidelines to ensure the proper and effective
implementation of measures that employers should undertake in relation to safety
and health at workplaces. The minister has announced the following guidelines
(Article 28 of the Industrial Safety and Health Law).
-
(1)
Safety-related technical guidelines
-
Technical guidelines on the safety standards for work execution by slip
form method (1974)
-
Technical guidelines on the safety standards of burners for industrial
heating furnaces (1974)
-
Technical guidelines on the safety standards of connecting and using earth
leakage circuit breaker for the prevention of electric shock (1974)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of machine tool structures (1975)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of conveyors (1975)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of mobile scaffolding (1975)
-
Technical guidelines
on the prevention of accidents due to low water levels in boilers (1976)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of safety net for the prevention of fall (1976)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of metallic molds for press machines (1977)
-
Technical guidelines
on the prevention steam explosions in the steel industry (1977)
-
Technical guidelines
on the structure and control of burners for oil-fired and gas-fired boilers
(1977)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of connecting and using automatic electric shock
prevention devices for AC arc welders (1980)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of using industrial robots (1983)
-
Technical guidelines
on the safety standards of installing portable gondolas (1986)
(2)
Technical guidelines for the prevention of health hazards
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to carbon tetrachloride (1991)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to 1, 4-dioxiane (1991)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to 1, 2-dichloroethane (1992)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to paranitro-chlorobenzene (1994)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to chloroform (1995)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to tetrachloroethylene (1995)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to vinyl acetate (1997)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1997)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to para-dichlorobenzene (1997)
-
Technical guidelines
for the prevention of health hazards due to biphenyl (1997)
4.
Guidelines on Voluntary Inspections
The Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare
is required to announce guidelines on the periodic voluntary inspections of
machinery that should be carried out by employers. The minister has announced
the following guidelines (Article 45 of the Industrial Safety and Health Law).
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of mobile cranes (1981)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of local exhaust ventilators (1983)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of dust collectors (1983)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of chemical facilities (1984)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of overhead cranes (1981 and 1999)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of shovel loaders (1985)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of gondolas (1986)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of off-road transport vehicles (1991)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of elevated-work vehicles (1991)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of vehicles for construction work (1991
and 1993)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of fork-lifts (1993 and 1996)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of power presses (1997)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of boilers (1998)
-
Guidelines on
the periodic voluntary inspections of elevators (1998)
5.
Guidelines on the labeling of chemical substances
Containers or packages of chemical substances
are required to carry labels or documents that indicate hazardous properties
upon workers (Articles 57 and 57-2 of the Industrial Safety and Health Law).
Guidelines specifying detailed labeling methods have been announced.
In addition employers are required to investigate
the harmful properties of chemical substances, etc., and take the necessary
measures to prevent health hazards (Article 58-2 of the Industrial Safety and
Health Law). Guidelines specifying detailed measures have been announced.
-
Guidelines on
the labeling of the dangerous and harmful properties of chemical substances,
etc. (1992 and 2000)
-
Guidelines on
the necessary measures to prevent health hazards to workers due to chemical
substances, etc. (2000)
6.
Guidelines on measures based on the results of medical examinations
While employers are required to carry out
medical examinations for workers, it may become necessary for the employers
to take various measures, including changes in work assignments or reduced working
hours, on the basis of the results of such medical examinations.
The Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare is required to announce guidelines
to ensure that appropriate measures should be implemented by employers
(Article 66-5 of the Industrial Safety and Health Law).
7.
Guidelines on the maintenance and promotion of worker's health
Employers are required to continuously implement well-planned measures
as necessary to maintain and promote workers' health, including education
and consultation concerning health (Article 69 of the Industrial Safety
and Health Law), and the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare is also
required to announce guidelines concerning such measures (Article 70-2
of the Industrial Safety and Health Law).
- Guidelines on
the maintenance and promotion of workers' health at workplaces (1989 and
1997)
8.
Guidelines on the creation of comfortable working environments
Employers are required to maintain comfortable
conditions in working environments (Article 71-2 of the Industrial Safety and
Health Law), and the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare is also required
to announce guidelines concerning such measures (Article 71-3 of the Industrial
Safety and Health Law).
9.
Guidelines on industrial safety and health management systems
With regard to industrial safety and health
management systems, a new provision (Article 24-2) was added to the Ordinance
on Industrial Safety and Health in 1999, requiring the Minister of Health, Labor
and Welfare to announce guidelines on industrial safety and health management
systems.
- Guidelines on
industrial safety and health management systems (1999)
10.
Others
- In addition to these guidelines above, the
Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare has announced a number of guidelines as
structural standards so as to allow employers may adopt appropriate safety and
health measures as prescribed by the Industrial Safety and Health Law.
-
(1)
Standards for manufacturing permissions
- Boilers, type-I
pressure vessels and cranes
(2)
Structural standards
-
Boilers, small-sized boilers and pressure vessels, simple boilers, pressure
vessels, cranes, mobile cranes, derricks, elevators, simple lifts, construction
lifts, gondolas, explosion-proof electric machines, grinding machines,
etc., acetylene generators, various safety devices (press machines, shearing
machines, pneumatic-tired rollers and their emergency brakes, overload
prevention devices for cranes, etc., automatic voltage reducing devices
for AC arc welding machines), insulating devices, personal protective equipment
for electrical insulation, protective caps, safety belts, elevated work
vehicles, protective masks, gas masks, diving machines, X-ray and gamma-ray
radiators, chain saws, etc.
(3)
Special education rules (contents and hours of education)
- Special safety
and health education, handling of small-sized boilers, cranes and gondolas,
operations involving tetra-alkyl lead, high-pressure work, operations on
penetrating photographs, handling of nuclear fuel substances, hazardous
work in oxygen deficiency, dust-prone work
(4)
Skill-training rules (contents and hours of education)
- Skill-training courses for operations chiefs
(5)
Training courses to prevent the recurrence of accidents (contents and hours
of education)
- General safety
and health supervisors, safety supervisors/health supervisors/safety and
health promoters, overall safety and health controllers, prime contractor
safety and health supervisors, business office safety and health supervisors,
safety and health controllers, crane operators, operators of vehicle-type
construction machines, workers engaged in slinging operations
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