Japan Press Weekly

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2014 July 30 - August 12 [LABOR]

Work-related deaths increase by 20%

Japan’s labor ministry released on August 5 the survey results of work-related accidents during the first half of 2014, indicating that the number of deaths resulting from work increased to 437, up by 19.4% compared with the same period of a year earlier.

In terms of types of industry, 55 workers in the trucking industry were killed at work, which was up by 61.8% from the previous year. Almost all of them fell to the ground while loading and unloading freight.

In the construction industry, the number of on-the-job deaths reached 159, up by 28.2% from a year earlier. The major causes were falling from a rooftop or a scaffold, or being caught in a machine.

In the manufacturing industry, 82 workers died, up by 12.8%. The number of accidents in which young workers were caught in a machine and died within the first year after they started work increased remarkably.

On the same day, the ministry requested 250 business organizations in all industries to carry out full safety inspections at workplaces as well as enhance concerted efforts with workers to prevent labor accidents.

Fukuchi Yasuma, the director of Japan Center for Health and Safety of Working People (JCHS), stressed, “Many young contingent workers are allegedly forced to work under dangerous conditions without receiving appropriate safety training. Their precarious positions make it more difficult for them to ask their bosses for sick leave or to have extreme risks at workplaces removed. Employers should implement safety measures immediately.”