Industrial Safety and Health Act

• At each workplace of the size a Cabinet Order sets — for safety managers, of the industry and size it sets — the employer must appoint a general safety and health manager (総括安全衛生管理者), who must be the person running the business there, safety managers (安全管理者), health managers (衛生管理者) and a doctor as industrial physician (産業医); workplaces that need neither, of a size a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, need a safety and health advocate (安全衛生推進者), or in the industries the Cabinet Order does not list a health advocate (衛生推進者). Where the industrial physician finds it necessary to protect workers' health, it may make recommendations on their health care, which the employer must respect and report to the health committee or safety and health committee.(Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 11(1), Art. 12(1), Art. 12-2(1), Art. 13(1), Art. 13(5), Art. 13(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
• At each workplace of the industry and size a Cabinet Order sets the employer must set up a safety committee (安全委員会), and at each of the size it sets a health committee (衛生委員会), to investigate and deliberate on measures against danger and harm to workers' health and give the employer its opinion; where both are required, one safety and health committee (安全衛生委員会) may take their place. The chair is a person the employer names from the general safety and health manager, those running the business there or someone equivalent, and half of the other members must be named on the recommendation of the union organised by a majority of the workplace's workers or, where there is none, of the person representing that majority.(Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2), Art. 17(3), Art. 17(4), Art. 18(1), Art. 18(4), Art. 19(1), Art. 19(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For work a Cabinet Order names, such as work in high-pressure chambers, the employer must appoint an operations supervisor (作業主任者) — someone licensed by the Director of the Prefectural Labour Bureau or who has completed a skills course run by a body that Director has registered — to direct the workers. Crane operation and other work a Cabinet Order names may be given only to, and done only by, people with the licence, skills course or other qualification required. The employer must give workers safety or health education for their work when hiring them or changing their work, and special education before putting them on dangerous or harmful work a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names.(Art. 14(1), Art. 61(1), Art. 61(2), Art. 59(1), Art. 59(2), Art. 59(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The employer must have workers undergo medical checkups by a doctor as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order provides, with checkups on special items for harmful work a Cabinet Order names — owed also to workers it once put on such work and still employs — and workers must undergo them. The employer must keep the results, tell each worker theirs, hear a doctor's opinion on workers with abnormal findings and, where needed, take measures such as changing their place of work or work, or cutting their hours or night work. It must bar from work, as that Ministry Order provides, workers who have caught a contagious or other disease that Order names.(Art. 66(1), Art. 66(2), Art. 66(5), Art. 66-3(1), Art. 66-4(1), Art. 66-5(1), Art. 66-6(1), Art. 68(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Workers whose working hours or other conditions meet a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order's criteria must be given face-to-face guidance (面接指導) by a doctor, and so must workers in research and development of new technology, goods or services whose working hours exceed what that Order sets, and workers under Article 41-2 of the Labor Standards Act whose health management time exceeds what it sets; the workers must undergo it. The employer must keep track of workers' working hours for this (except those under Article 41-2), keep the results, hear the doctor's opinion and, where needed, take measures such as changing their work or cutting their working hours.(Art. 66-8(1), Art. 66-8(2), Art. 66-8(3), Art. 66-8(4), Art. 66-8(5), Art. 66-8-2(1), Art. 66-8-2(2), Art. 66-8-4(1), Art. 66-8-4(2), Art. 66-8-3(1), Labor Standards Act Art. 36(11), Labor Standards Act Art. 41-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The employer must have workers take a stress check (心理的な負担の程度を把握するための検査) by a doctor, health nurse or other person a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names; the examiner tells the worker the results and must not give them to the employer without the worker's prior consent. A worker whose results meet that Order's criteria and who asks for it must be given face-to-face guidance (面接指導) by a doctor, and must not be treated disadvantageously for asking. At workplaces below the size at which Article 13(1) requires an industrial physician, the stress check is for the time being only something the employer must try to do.This is the rule until 31 March 2028.(Art. 66-10(1), Art. 66-10(2), Art. 66-10(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The employer must have workers take a stress check (心理的な負担の程度を把握するための検査) by a doctor, health nurse or other person a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names, at every workplace whatever its size, once Supplementary Provisions Article 4 — which made it only a duty to try at workplaces below the size at which Article 13(1) requires an industrial physician — is deleted on a day a Cabinet Order sets. The examiner tells the worker the results and must not give them to the employer without the worker's prior consent. A worker whose results meet that Order's criteria and who asks for it must be given face-to-face guidance (面接指導) by a doctor, and must not be treated disadvantageously for asking.This is the rule from 1 April 2028.(Art. 66-10(1), Art. 66-10(2), Art. 66-10(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1)(vi)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Boilers, cranes, elevators, gondolas and the other specified machines (特定機械等) in Appended Table 1 that a Cabinet Order names may be manufactured only with the prior permission of the Director of the Prefectural Labour Bureau, and must not be used without an inspection certificate. Other machines and protective equipment a Cabinet Order names — those in Appended Table 2, such as press safety devices, dust masks and protective helmets, and others needed for dangerous or harmful work, used in dangerous places or used to prevent danger or harm — must not be transferred, leased or installed unless they meet the standards, or carry the safety devices, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets. The employer must regularly self-inspect boilers and other machines a Cabinet Order names, and keep a record of the results.(Art. 37(1), Appended Table 1, Art. 40(1), Art. 42(1), Appended Table 2, Art. 45(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Yellow phosphorus matches, benzidine and other substances causing serious harm to workers' health that a Cabinet Order names must not be manufactured, imported, transferred, provided or used, though they may be manufactured, imported or used for research under the conditions that Order sets; others, such as dichlorobenzidine, may be manufactured only with the prior permission of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. Anyone transferring or providing, in a container or package, dangerous or harmful substances a Cabinet Order names must label it with their name, effects on the body, handling precautions and a warning symbol, and anyone transferring or providing the substances a Cabinet Order names for notice must tell the recipient, in writing or another way a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, their name, ingredients and amounts, properties, effects, handling precautions and emergency measures. The employer must assess the danger and harm of both kinds of substance and, on the results, take the measures the Act and its orders require, and try to take any other measures needed.(Art. 55(1), Art. 56(1), Art. 57(1), Art. 57-2(1), Art. 57-3(1), Art. 57-3(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 October 2026

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the Industrial Safety and Health Act and the Working Environment Measurement Act

  労働安全衛生法及び作業環境測定法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 33 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Industrial Safety and Health Act and the Working Environment Measurement Act

  労働安全衛生法及び作業環境測定法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 33 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 January 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Industrial Safety and Health Act and the Working Environment Measurement Act

  労働安全衛生法及び作業環境測定法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 33 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 May 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Industrial Safety and Health Act and the Working Environment Measurement Act

  労働安全衛生法及び作業環境測定法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 33 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 17 June 2022

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2020

  Act Partially Amending the Health Promotion Act

  健康増進法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 78 of 2018The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 September 2019

  Act on the Development of Related Acts to Rationalize Measures concerning the Restriction of Rights of Adult Wards, etc.

  成年被後見人等の権利の制限に係る措置の適正化等を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 14 June 2019

  Act on the Development of Related Acts to Rationalize Measures concerning the Restriction of Rights of Adult Wards, etc.

  成年被後見人等の権利の制限に係る措置の適正化等を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

  Act No. 37 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2019

  Act Partially Amending the School Education Act

  学校教育法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 41 of 2017The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 15 amendments already in force

• A worker who does not want the medical checkup by the doctor or dentist the employer has designated may instead have an equivalent checkup by another and give the employer proof of the results; the same goes for face-to-face guidance (面接指導) by a doctor.(Art. 66(5), Art. 66-8(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The rules on who chairs the safety, health or safety and health committee and on naming half its members on the workers' recommendation give way, to the extent it provides otherwise, to a collective agreement with the union organised by a majority of the workplace's workers.(Art. 17(5), Art. 18(4), Art. 19(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The labelling and notice duties for hazardous substances do not cover containers, packages or products mainly for consumers' everyday use.(Art. 57(1), Art. 57-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where information on an ingredient is business information kept secret and not publicly known, a supplier may, for chemical substances a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names, tell the recipient an alternative chemical name (代替化学名等) instead, having said so in advance; it must keep a record, and must disclose the real ingredient to a doctor who asks for it to diagnose or treat harm to health.(Art. 57-2(3), Art. 57-2(4), Art. 57-2(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• At mines under the Mine Safety Act (鉱山保安法), the general safety and health manager is called a general health manager (総括衛生管理者) and the safety and health advocate a health advocate (衛生推進者); for safety in mines, the plans for preventing industrial injuries are made by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry with the Central Mine Safety Council (中央鉱山保安協議会) in place of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Labour Policy Council.(Art. 114(1), Art. 114(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• Labour standards inspectors (労働基準監督官) may, where needed to carry out the Act, enter workplaces, question people, inspect books, documents and other things, carry out work environment monitoring and, to the extent the inspection needs, take samples of products, raw materials or tools free of charge, and an inspector who is a doctor may examine workers suspected of having a disease for which Article 68 bars them from work. Where needed to carry out the Act, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Director of the Prefectural Labour Bureau and the Chief of the Labour Standards Inspection Office may require employers, workers, machine and building lessors, suppliers of substances needing notice and consultants to report or to appear, and inspectors may require employers and workers to. For offences under the Act, inspectors carry out the duties of judicial police officers under the Code of Criminal Procedure, though the power to enter and inspect is not to be read as one granted for criminal investigation.(Art. 91(1), Art. 91(2), Art. 91(4), Art. 100(1), Art. 100(3), Art. 92(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where an employer, orderer or lessor breaches the hazard duties of Articles 20 to 25 or certain others, the Director of the Prefectural Labour Bureau (都道府県労働局長) or the Chief of the Labour Standards Inspection Office (労働基準監督署長) may order all or part of the work stopped, or the use of buildings, equipment or raw materials stopped or changed, and where workers are in imminent danger an inspector may use that power on the spot. Even without a breach, they may order work or use temporarily stopped, or other emergency measures taken, where an industrial injury is imminent and the need is urgent.(Art. 98(1), Art. 98(3), Art. 99(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Anyone working on a job a business carries out, workers or not (作業従事者), may report a breach of the Act or its orders at the workplace to the Director of the Prefectural Labour Bureau, the Chief of the Labour Standards Inspection Office or a labour standards inspector, and ask for it to be put right. The employer must not dismiss or otherwise disadvantage a worker for reporting, and those contracting with the business, such as orderers and machine lessors, must not stop dealing with it or otherwise disadvantage it because of the report.(Art. 97(1), Art. 97(2), Art. 97(3), Art. 15(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• After a serious industrial injury of a kind a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order specifies, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, in the cases that Order sets, instruct the employer to draw up and submit a special safety and health improvement plan (特別安全衛生改善計画); if the employer does not follow the instruction or the plan and a recurrence is feared, the Minister may recommend measures, and may publish the fact that a recommendation was not followed. The Director of the Prefectural Labour Bureau may instruct an employer to draw up a safety and health improvement plan (安全衛生改善計画) where comprehensive improvements are needed to prevent industrial injuries. The employer must hear the majority union or majority representative when drawing up either plan, and the employer and its workers must keep to it.(Art. 78(1), Art. 78(2), Art. 78(3), Art. 78(5), Art. 78(6), Art. 79(1), Art. 79(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Before installing, moving or altering the main structure of machinery a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order specifies — machines needed for dangerous or harmful work, used in dangerous places or used to prevent danger or harm — an employer must file the plan with the Chief of the Labour Standards Inspection Office 30 days before the work starts, unless the Chief has certified it as taking the safety measures that Order specifies; especially large construction work that Order specifies must be filed with the Minister 30 days ahead, and other work it specifies in construction and the industries a Cabinet Order names, with the Chief 14 days ahead. Where such work is done through several tiers of contracts, those two filings fall only on the orderer doing the work itself or, if there is none, the prime contractor. Where a filed plan breaches the Act or its orders, the Minister or the Chief may stop the work from starting or order the plan changed.(Art. 88(1), Art. 88(2), Art. 88(3), Art. 88(5), Art. 88(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Breaching the hazard duties of Articles 20 to 25, using a specified machine without an inspection certificate, transferring, leasing or installing machines that do not meet the standards, putting unqualified people on licensed work, failing to appoint an operations supervisor or to give the special education for dangerous work, failing to label hazardous substances, dismissing or otherwise penalising a worker for reporting a breach, divulging a worker's secrets learned in a checkup or stress check, or disobeying a stop order is punishable by imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to six months or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 119(1)(i), Art. 119(1)(ii), Art. 119(1)(iii), Art. 14(1), Art. 40(1), Art. 42(1), Art. 59(3), Art. 61(1), Art. 97(2), Art. 105(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Failing to appoint a general safety and health manager, safety or health manager or industrial physician, to set up the safety or health committee, to give the education on hiring, to give medical checkups or to record and notify their results, or to make the Act's main points known to workers, and refusing or obstructing an inspector's entry and inspection, or failing to make a required report or making a false one, are punishable by a fine of up to 500,000 yen. Workers and others at the same site who do not observe what the employer's safety measures require of them (Article 26), and anyone without the required licence or qualification who does work reserved for qualified people (Article 61(2)), can themselves be fined up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 120(1)(i), Art. 120(1)(iv), Art. 120(1)(v), Art. 10(1), Art. 13(1), Art. 17(1), Art. 18(1), Art. 59(1), Art. 66(1), Art. 101(1), Art. 26(1), Art. 61(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Manufacturing, importing, transferring, providing or using a banned substance is punishable by imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 3 million yen, and manufacturing a specified machine or a substance needing the Minister's permission without permission, or failing to have machines individually or type-examined as required, by imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 1 million yen. Where a representative, agent, employee or other staff member commits an offence under Articles 116, 117, 119 or 120 in the course of a corporation's or individual's business, the corporation or individual is fined as well as the offender.(Art. 116(1), Art. 117(1), Art. 55(1), Art. 37(1), Art. 44(1), Art. 44-2(1), Art. 56(1), Art. 122(1)) (the provisions it rests on)