Current status of occupational health in Japan

In Japan, the primary administrative authority of occupational health is the Ministry of Labour, and its legislative basis is the Industrial Safety and Health Law (ISH law). Occupational health is mandated by this law and its enforcement involves the appointment of an occupational health physician (OP) for workplaces with 50 or more workers, and a full-time OP for workplaces with 1000 or more workers. The actual percentage of appointments filled for the former group is 83.4 per cent, compared with 58.4 per cent for the latter. The estimated number of OPs is 34000, of which 2000 work full time. Worker health examination is mandatory for all workplaces and many OPs allocate considerable time to its implementation. Occupational health organizations provide occupational health services such as worker health examinations to meet the demand. Basic training courses for OPs are provided by the Japan Medical Association and advanced courses are provided by the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan. The Ministry of Labour recently launched a plan to establish occupational health centres to assist OPs at prefectural and regional levels. A network of such centres is planned to span the country within the next seven years.