Ordinance on Prevention of Hazards Due to Dust

(Responsibilities of the Employer)

Article 1.   The employer shall endeavor to take measures necessary for protecting workers from health impairments resulting from being exposed to dust, such as an improvement of facilities, processes or methods of work and working environment, etc.

2.   The employer shall endeavor to take proper measures for supervision of workers' health such as providing for medical examination, changing the workshop or work assignment and reducing working hours to protect the workers from health impairments resulting from being exposed to dust, in addition to observing the provisions of the Pneumoconiosis Law (Law No. 30 of 1960) and its related ordinances and the Industrial Safety and Health Law (hereinafter referred to as the "Law") and its related ordinances.

(Definitions, etc.)

Article 2.  In this Ordinance, the terminology in the following shall be as defined in each respective item:

(1)  "Dusty work" shall be defined as that which corresponds to any item listed in Attached Table 1, except, however, the work which has been authorized by the Director General of the Prefectural Labour Bureau having jurisdiction over the district where the workplace to which the workshop concerned belongs is located (hereinafter referred to as the "Director General of the competent Prefectural Labour Bureau") that it is not necessary to take the measures which are stipulated in this Ordinance from the standpoint of the degree of dust dispersion, work processes, etc., of the said workshop.

(2)  "Specific dust source" shall be defined as that listed in Attached Table 2.

(3)  "Specific dusty work" shall be defined as that among dusty work which has been caused by a specific dust source.

2.   The employer who intends to obtain the authorization stipulated in the proviso in item 1 of preceding paragraph 1 shall submit the Application for the Authorization of Non-dusty work (Form No. 1) to the Director General of the Prefectural Labour Bureau through the Chief of the Labour Standards Inspection Office which has jurisdiction over the district where the workplace to which the workshop concerned of the enterprise is belonged is located (hereinafter referred to as the "Chief of the competent Labour Standards Inspection Office").

3.   The following materials regarding the said workshop shall be attached to the application for the authorization of non-dusty work as specified in the preceding item.

(1)  Sketch of the workshop

(2)  Records of medical examinations on pneumoconiosis maintained under the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 17 of the Pneumoconiosis Law.

(3)  Document describing the measurement results of dust concentration, method of measurement and conditions of measurement. (When it is clear that the degree of dust dispersion is low, such a document shall not be necessary).

4.   When the Director General of the competent Prefectural Labour Bureau received the application for authorization of non-dusty work specified in paragraph 2, he shall decide whether the authorization specified in the proviso in item 1 of paragraph 1 shall be granted or not and shall notify in writing, without delay, the result of the decision to the employer concerned.

5.   When the employer who has been authorized under the provision of the proviso in item 1 of paragraph 1 alters the contents in the application for the authorization of non-dusty work specified in paragraph 2 or the sketch of the workshop specified in item 1 of paragraph 3, or the worker or workers who have engaged in the authorized work have been diagnosed as a case or suspected case of the disease resulting from inhalation of dust by the medical examination, etc., provided for in paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 66 of the Law, he shall submit the report to the Director General of the competent Prefectural Labour Bureau through the Chief of the competent Labour Standards Inspection Office.

6.   When the Director General of the competent Prefectural Labour Bureau does not determine that it is not necessary to take measures stipulated in this Ministry Ordinance for the work relating to the authorization specified in the proviso in item 1 of paragraph 1 from the points of view of the degree of dust dispersion, work processes, etc., in the workshop, he shall cancel, without delay, the authorization concerned.

(Exemption for Water or Oil Sprinkling by Equipment)

Article 3.  When the following types of work are carried out with water or oil sprinkling by equipment, the following Chapter through Chapter 6 shall not be applied to such works:

(1) Work in places where soil, sand, stones, rocks or minerals (hereinafter referred to as "minerals, etc.") are screened in a pit, from among those specified in item 3 of Attached Table 1.

(2) Work specified in item 6 of Attached Table 1.

(3) Work in a place where rocks, minerals or metals are ground or burrs are removed or metals are cut by using power and abrasion, from among those specified in item 7 of Attached Table 1.

(4) The following types of work from among those specified in item 8 of Attached Table 1:

a)  Work in a place where minerals, etc., or raw materials containing mainly carbon (hereinafter referred to as "carbonic raw material") are screened by power.

b)  Work in a place where minerals, etc., or carbonic raw materials are crushed or pulverized by power outdoors.

(5)  Work in a place where sand is reused, from among those specified in item 15 of Attached Table 1.