Occupational Safety and HealthandThe role of experts in Japan2010.1.28•Japan Association of Working Environment Measurement

Tokyo, JAPANTopics
1 Outline of Occupational Safety andHealth in Japan

２ Occupational Healthand the role of Experts

Change in Number of Deaths by Industrial
Accidents in All Industries (Year 195３~200６)

persons

Death by Industrial Accidents(1953-2006)
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0calendar years

1 Regislation of OSH in Japan
Labor Standards Law of 1947→
Pneumoconiosis prevention Law of 1960→
Industrial Accidents Prevention Organizations Law of 1964→

Industrial Safety and Health Law of 1972→Working Environment Measurement Law of 1975→

2 Regulatory framework of OSH
Industrial Safety and Health (ISH) Law of 1972
Cabinet order of ISH‐Law
Ordinances on safety/health・ Ordinances on ISH
・ 3 Ordinances relating to industrial safety
・10 Ordinances relating to occupational health<minister’s notifications>
Examples;Construction codes on boiler, crane, etc.
Guidelines on OSHMS
Guidelines on labeling of chemicals
Guidelines on risk assessment<administrative notifications>2 Regulatory framework of OSH(２)10 Ordinances under ISH‐Law
relating to Occupational Health(1) Ordinance of Prevention of Organic solvent poisoning(2) ‐Lead poisoning(3) ‐Tetra‐alkyl lead poisoning(4) ‐Hazards due to Specified chemicals
such as suspected carcinogens(5) ‐Hazards due to Asbestos(6) ‐Hazards due toWork under High pressure(7) ‐Hazards due to Dusts(8) ‐Hazards due to Ionizing radiation(9) ‐Prevention of Anoxia(10) ‐Health standards in the offices

3 Implementing system of OSH< Central Government > =implementation of laws,
inspection, guidance & assistance,etc.,●MHLW (Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare)<Branch /Local System>●Prefectural Labor Standard Bureau(47)● Labor Standard Inspection Office(343)<Management & Labor>○ Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren)○ Japan Trade Unions’ Confederation(Rengo)3 Implementing system of OSH（２）<Related Organizations>/ Employers’ Accidents Prevention Associations‐Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association(JISHA)‐ 5 Associations for Respective Industries①Construction② Land cargo transportation③Marine cargo transportation and stevedore④Timber manufacturing and forestry⑤Mining‐Local Branch of above associations(47 each)/ OSH Institutions for
Safety/Health Qualification Examinations,
Safety/Health Educations ,Work‐environment Measurements,
Medical examination and others

3 Implementing system of OSH（3）Research arm(National Institute ofOccupational Safetyand HealthJapan=JNIOSH)

Sponsoring
fully

Public Associations whose
duty is delegated by MHLW(①Working Environment
Measurements(JAWE),②Consulting(Japan
Industrial Safety &Health C
Consultants
Association),③Qualification
exams(JapanAssociation ofQualification Examinations)

Employers’ Accident Prevention
Associations(JISHA and 5 associations)

Subsidy in personnel expenses
MHLW
and its local offices

Public Associations engaged in businessregistered to MHLW
(inspection of boiler, crane, elevator, etc.,
examination of respirators, helmets, etc.,)

4 Present OSH Situation in Japan(1)Change in Industry, Work structureand Workplaces
Change in Industry, Work structure○Increase of Tertiary industry○Increase of peripheral workers○Increase of aged workers due to higher
retirement age and lower birth rate
○Increasing trend of women workers

Continued‐

Workplace Changes○More diversified and complicated industrial
processes→Introducing new machinery , equipment andraw materials, chemicals→Diversified risks of labor accidents○Collective retirement of baby boomers fromworkplaces and Increasing peripheral workers→Fear of inadequate transfer of know‐ how ofsafety and health4 Present OSH Situation in Japan (2)(2) Basic Strategy●to disseminate /promote the method of risk
assessment among workplaces andlower the risk through the practice of it●To specify ,through accidents analysis
etc., dangerous jobs, operations , machinery etc.,that can be the major cause of accidents
or have high risk inherently
and establish/take effective measures
to prevent accidents due to them

Continued‐<Especially as for Chemicals>○Promotion of Hazard identification ofchemicals
as well as Risk assessment of chemical
processes by the best use of・ Materials Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
prepared according to GHS.
・ Exposure analysis
・ Indices such as OEL

Occupational Health Experts
underIndustrial Safety and Health Law●Industrial Safety and Health Consultants(1972)
・Industrial Safety Consultant
・Industrial Health Consultant●Working Environment Measurement
Experts(1975)
・Working Environment Measurement Expert of 1st kind
→ entitled to Design, Sampling and Analysis(fully)
・Working Environment Measurement Expert of 2nd kind
→ entitled to Design, Sampling and analysis (by simple
methods only)Industrial Safety and Health
Consultants(1972)
1 Industrial Safety Consultant<Qualification for examination>
・graduates of university/college +5 years’ experienceof safety
・ graduates of junior college/technical college+7 years’ experience of safety
・ graduates of high school +10 years’ experience ofsafety ,and othersIndustrial Safety Consultants(1972)<Methods of Examination>
written examination and oral examination<Division of Examination>• Machinery Safety• Electricity Safety• Chemical Safety• Civil engineering Safety• Construction SafetyIndustrial Health
Consultants(1972)<Methods of Examination>
written examination and oral examination<Division of Examination>• Health• Industrial hygiene engineering

Industrial Safety and HealthConsultants(1972)○How to become a consultant
1st step :to pass examination(written,oral)by Designated Consultant Examination
Institution
2nd step : to be registered in the industrial
safety consultant registry of DesignatedConsultant Registry Institution

The Role of Consultants
Risk
Assessment ofChemicals,
Machinery,etc.,

Introducing
OSHMS
OSH Education

consultants

Preparing OSH
codes, work
standards,
related papers toInvestigation of
cause of labor
accident

Improvement/renovation of work
practice, local
exhaust ventilation,PPE,Japan Association of Safety andHealth Consultants(JASHCON)○Founded in 1983 as a public corporation withmembers of Industrial Safety and HealthConsultants and other supporting members○Headquarter and 47 branches(eachprefecture)○Duty/business・Various kinds of OSH Education and training
・OSHMS auditor/inspector training
・Lifelong education program（２００４〜）

Number of consultants（8,199）
Machinery Safety

６４９Electricity Safety

３７７Chemical Safety
Civil engineering Safety

３１７
２，５９７Construction Safety

６０８HealthIndustrial hygiene engineering

３，１９８４５３

Working Environment MeasurementExperts(1975)○Working Environment Measurement
Expert of 1st kind
→ entitled to Design, Sampling andAnalysis(fully)○Working Environment Measurement Expertof 2nd kind
→ entitled to Design, Sampling andAanalysis(by simple methods only)Definition of Working Environment Measurement
by Law○ The “working environment measurement” by
the law consists of （1）design，（2）sampling and（3）analysis，○“Design” is particularly important so that the resultof the statistical treatment of figures obtainedfrom each sampling point rightly reflect theactual state of airborne concentration ofｃｈemicals.
○ The method of “Design” is stipulated by
Minister’s Notice entitled “Ｗorking Environment
Measurement Standards”

Design and sampling○According to the notice, the “design” and “sampling” should follow thebelow ;(1) Vertical and horizontal lines are drawn at equal intervals of not morethan 6 m on the floor of a unit work area (refers to such a necessary
section that is designated for working environment based on thecondition of distribution of harmful substances and range of movementof workers within the area of a workshop concerned, hereinafter thesame shall apply) and a sampling point is provided at each intersectionof those lines at a position 50 to 150 cm above the floor (except such apoint where measurement is very difficult due to equipment etc.).
However, when it is obvious that the concentration of chemicals/dusts
is substantially uniform, vertical and horizontal lines can be drawn at
equal intervals of more than 6 m on the floor of a unit work area and asampling point provided at each intersection of those lines.

Design and Sampling(conti‐)(2) Sampling points shall be provided at not less than 5 points
though when they become less than 5 points then the above
rule is applied regardless of the provisions of the preceding
item. However, when the unit work area is very narrow and it
is obvious that the concentration of chemicals/dust is
substantially uniform, the number of sampling points may beless than 5.
(3) The measurement prescribed in the preceding section shallbe made at suchtime when work is regularly performed.

Working Environment
Measurement Expert

Airborne Concentration
Mineraldust

Organicsolvents

Specifiedchemicals

SpecifiedmetalsRadioactivematerials

Steps of Working Environment Measurement
Determination ofunit workplace
Setting
date&time
Determining
measurement
condition

B-mesurement

Settingmeasuringprocedure

Determinationof Class1,2,3

Ameasurement

Calculation
Calculation ofof geometricalindicesEa1,Ea2
means,
Standard deviation

Determining
measuring points
DesignSampling/analysis

Statistical treatment

definition
1st．Evaluation Value（Ea1）
Estimated value suited to 5％ from the highest level
among the actual value of airborne toxic substances
at working hours at all possible points in a unit workarea．
2nd．Evaluation Value（Ea2）
Estimated value of the arithmetic mean
concentration of airborne toxic substances in a unit
work area．

Control Class Ⅰ＜condition of working area＞
Concentration of airborne hazardous chemical
does not exceed the administrative control
level at almost (more than 95%)points.
＜measures to be taken＞
Nothing to be taken. To continue the current
working environment control to keep thepresent condition

Control Class Ⅱ＜condition of working area＞
Mean concentration of airborne hazardous
chemical does not exceed the administrativecontrol level .
＜measures to be taken＞
Try to take necessary measures ,based on theresult of inspection offacilities,equipment,operation or workprocedure

Control Class Ⅲ＜condition of working area＞
Mean concentration of airborne hazardous chemical
exceedｓ the administrative control level .
＜measures to be taken＞①Take necessary measures, as soon as possible, basedon the result of inspection of facilities,equipment,operation or work procedure②Use effective respirator, if necessary.
③carry out medical examination or other measures, ifnecessary.

Classification of control class(1)“A‐sampling only” case
Ea<EEa1≧E≧Ea2 Ea2＞EClass Ⅰ

Class ⅡＣｌａｓｓ Ⅲ

Classification of control class(2)Both “A‐sampling “and “B‐sampling” case
Ea1＜EEa1≧E≧Ea2

Ea2＞ECB＜EClass Ⅰ Class Ⅱ

Class Ⅲ

E1≧CB≧1．
5×E

Class Ⅱ Class Ⅱ

Class ⅢCB＞1．5×E

Class Ⅲ Class Ⅲ

Class ⅢCharacteristics of Japanese Working
environment measurement○ measurement of the airborne concentration of chemicals/mineraldusts/asbestos fibers, etc ., in the workplace atmosphere→statistical treatment of the measurements results to calculate
geometrical mean value and geometrical standard deviation→to calculate indices to be compared with “control levels” that are values
stipulated for each hazardous chemicals by the government→comparison between “indices” and “control levels”→determination of “which Class Ⅰ,ⅡorⅢ the workplace falls”
・if Class Ⅰ→the workplace condition is good and no action
is needed
・if Class Ⅲ→the workplace condition needs improvement
to realize Class Ⅰ
・If Class Ⅱ→ the workplace condition is between ClassⅠand Ⅱ
it is encouraged to realize Class Ⅰby checking theworkplace condition and taking necessary actionComparison of Japanese methodwith those of US/European method○ Japanese methods→measuring airborne concentration without
regards ,principally, to workers exposure concentration→the result is used for evaluation of workplace conditions as towhether any action for improvement is needed or not .
＊main purpose→to lead to working environment improvement○ US and most European countries’ method→measuring workers’ exposure to chemicals→in terms of 8 hours‘ time weighted average→ compare results with “Occupational Exposure Limits（OEL) ｆor
respective chemicals
OELs are recommended from some of the institutions such asTLVs from ACGIH.
＊main purpose→to evaluate workers’ exposure rather as ameans of health control than that of working environment
control○The merit of Japanese measurement system① better practicality/feasibility for employers
to make measurements→measuring airborne concentration is easierthan measuring exposure of each worker② closer connections between results ofmeasurement and the identification of thefacility/equipment that needs improvement

Japan Working Environment
Measurement Association (JAWE)○Founded in 1954 as a public corporation with members ofWorking Environment Measurement (WEM)Experts as wellas organizations and other supporting members○Headquarter and 13 branches covering all Japan○Duty/business・Skill training course stipulated by law for candidate of WEM
Experts who have passed authorised qualification
examination
・Various kinds of Education and training for WEM Experts
・Special courses for WEM Experts to become possible
Occupational Hygienists accredited by JAWE

Number of WEM Experts（plural counts. )number

1st kind (design ,sampling and analysis for
Mineral Dust)

9,581

1st kind (design, sampling and analysis
for radioactivematerial)

4,205

1st kind (design, sampling and analysis
for specifiedchemicals)

9,703

1st kind (design, sampling and analysis
for specified Metal)

6,145

1st kind (design, sampling and analysis
for Organic
Solvents

13,258

2nd kind5,771

Thanks for your attention!

From presentation in Pusan, Korea by S.Asuka
Executive director,JAWE