Chapter IV.  Medical Examination and Prohibition of Work of the Sick

(Medical Examination)

Article 38. The employer shall carry out a medical examination by the physician in terms of the items given below on workers who regularly engage in work in compressed air or in diving operations (hereinafter called "work under high pressure"), when the said workers are employed, when the said workers are transferred to the said work, and also at regular intervals of six months or less after the said workers started engaging in the said work:

(1)  Investigation into past history and also of previous experience in work under high pressure.

(2)  Examination of subjective or objective symptoms such as articular pain, waist pain, pain in lower extremities, ear ringing, etc.

(3)  Examination of motor functions of upper and lower extremities.

(4)  Examination of the eardrum and hearing acuity.

(5)  Measurement of blood pressure, and examination of urinary sugar and protein levels.

(6)  Measurement of pulmonary capacity.

2.  The employer shall make a physician additionally carry out medical examination in terms of the items given below on those who are regarded as being required to undertake the diagnoses by a physician on the basis of the results of the examination set forth in the preceding paragraph:

(1)  Investigation of working conditions.

(2)  Pulmonary function test.

(3)  Electrocardiographic examination.

(4)  Investigation into articles with direct radiography.

(Results of Medical Examination)

Article 39. The employer shall prepare the individual Medical Examination Cards on Work under High Pressure (Form No. 1) on the basis of the results of the medical examination as provided for by the preceding Article called the "High Pressure Work Medical Examination" in the following Article (inclusive of the medical examination to be conducted on the said workers in the cases set forth in the provision of proviso of paragraph 5 of Article 66 of the Law.), and shall keep the recorded results in custody for a period of five years.

(Hearing the Views of the Physician Concerning the Results of the Medical Examination)

Article 39-2. Under the provisions of Article 66-4 of the Law, the views of the physician based on the results of the high pressure work medical examination shall be heard in accordance with the following stipulations:

(1)  Within three months of the date when the high pressure work medical examination was carried out (when the provisions of the conditional clause of paragraph 5 of Article 66 of the Law apply, the date when said worker submitted the document showing the results of the medical examination to the employer).

(2)  The views of the physician shall be recorded on the individual high pressure work medical examination cards.

(Reporting of Medical Examination Results)

Article 40. When the employer has a physician carry out a medical examination as provided by Article 38 (restricted to the ones done periodically), the employer shall submit without delay to the Chief of the Labour Standards Inspection Office which supervise the district in which the workplace exists a Report on the Results of Medical Examination on Work under High Pressure. (Form No. 2)

(Prohibition of Work of the Sick)

Article 41. In terms of workers suffering from any of the diseases given below, the employer shall prohibit the said workers from engaging in work under high pressure for the periods for which the said workers are regarded by the physician as being required to refrain from their engaging in the said work:

(1)  Decompression illness and other diseases due to high pressure or its aftereffects.

(2)  Pulmonary tuberculosis, and other respiratory tuberculosis, or acute infections in the upper respiratory tract, pneumoconiosis, emphysema of the lungs, and other diseases of the respiratory system.

(3)  Anemia, valvular disease of the heart, sclerosis of the coronary arteries, hypertension, and other diseases in the blood or circulatory systems.

(4)  Psychoneurosis, chronic alcoholism, neuralgia, and other psychoneurotic diseases.

(5)  Meniere's disease, or oritis media and other otological diseases involving stricture of the auditory canal.

(6)  Arthritis, rheumatism, and other diseases in the organs of locomotion.

(7)  Asthma, excessive obesity, Basedow's disease or other allergic diseases; endocrine disorder, disorder of metabolism, or nutrition diseases.