Industrial Safety and Health Act

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must have a worker whose working hours exceed the working hours specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in consideration of helping to maintain the health of the worker (but only those who engage in the work prescribed in paragraph (11) of Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act (excluding those who are prescribed in each item of Article 41 of that Act and those who are prescribed in paragraph (1) of Article 66-8-4)) undergo face-to-face guidance by a physician.

The provisions of paragraphs (2) through (5) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to employers and workers as referred to in the preceding paragraph. In such a case, the phrase "changing the work content" in paragraph (5) of that Article is deemed to be replaced with "changing the work assignment and granting paid leave (excluding paid leave prescribed in Article 39 of the Labor Standards Act)".

In order to provide face-to-face guidance under the provisions of paragraph (1) of Article 66-8 or paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, an employer must assess the working hours of workers (excluding those who are prescribed in paragraph (1) of the following Article) pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must have a worker who works pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) of Article 41-2 of the Labor Standards Act and whose working hours subject to health management (meaning the working hours subject to health management prescribed in item (iii) of that paragraph) exceed the amount of time specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in consideration of helping to maintain the health of the worker undergo face-to-face guidance by a physician.

The provisions in paragraphs (2) through (5) of Article 66-8 apply mutatis mutandis to employers and workers as prescribed in the preceding paragraph. In such a case, the phrase "changing the location of work, changing the work content, shortening the working hours or reducing the frequency of night work" in paragraph (5) of that Article is deemed to be replaced with "considerations for changing the work assignment, granting paid leave (excluding paid leave prescribed in Article 39 of the Labor Standards Act), and shortening the working hours subject to health management (referring to the working hours subject to health management in paragraph (1) of Article 66-8-4) ".

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must endeavor to take the necessary measures with respect to workers whose health requires consideration, other than the workers for whom the face-to-face guidance is provided pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) of Article 66-8, paragraph (1) of Article 66-8-2 or of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article.

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must have workers undergo examinations by a person, such as a physician or health nurse, specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (hereinafter referred to as a "physician or similar person" in this Article) to assess their degree of psychological burden.

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must have the physician or similar person that has conducted the examination as referred to in the preceding paragraph notify the worker who underwent that examination pursuant to that paragraph of the results thereof. In such a case, the physician or similar person must not provide the employer with the results of the examination without having first obtained the consent of the worker.

If a worker who has been notified as under the provisions of the preceding paragraph and whose degree of psychological burden meets the requirements specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in consideration of helping maintaining the health of workers requests to receive face-to-face guidance by a physician, the employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare must have the worker making the request undergo face-to-face guidance by a physician. In such a case, the employer must not subject the worker to disadvantageous treatment for having made that request.

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must keep the record of the results of the face-to-face guidance under the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must hear the opinion of a physician on the necessary measures to help maintain the health of a worker based on the result of face-to-face guidance under the provisions of paragraph (3).

On finding that it is necessary to do so in light of the opinion of a physician under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, an employer must take measures including changing the location of work, changing the work content, shortening the working hours, or reducing the frequency of night work, in accordance with the actual circumstances of the worker, along with conducting appropriate measures including reporting the opinion of the physician to the Health Committee, Safety and Health Committee or Committee for the Improvement of Establishing Working Hours, etc.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare is to release the necessary guidelines to ensure the appropriate and effective implementation of the measures that employers are required to take pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Having released guidelines as referred to in the preceding paragraph, and on finding that it is necessary to do so, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may provide the necessary guidance on those guidelines to employers and associations thereof.

The State is to endeavor to provide training courses for physicians concerning the effect of different degrees of psychological burden on the maintenance of a worker's health, in addition to taking measures including health counseling and other services for helping to maintain and improve the health of workers who use the results of examination of which they have been notified pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (2).

For persons that meet the requirements specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare among those that have been engaged in work operations as specified by Cabinet Order that could give workers cancer or cause workers to sustain any other significant impairment to health, the Director of the Prefectural Labour Bureau is to issue a notebook of personal health record related to the relevant work operations at the time of their separation from employment or thereafter; provided, however, that this does not apply to those already in possession of a personal health record related to those work operations.

The Government, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must take the necessary measures in connection with medical checkups for persons in possession of a notebook of personal health record.

A person to whom a notebook of personal health record has been issued must not transfer or lend that personal health record to others.

Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare prescribes the forms for notebooks of personal health record and other necessary particulars regarding the notebook.

An employer, pursuant to Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, must prohibit workers who have contracted communicable diseases and other diseases specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare from working.

An employer must endeavor to take appropriate measures in order to prevent the passive smoking (meaning passive smoking as prescribed in item (iii) of Article 28 of the Health Promotion Act (Act No. 103 of 2002); the same applies in paragraph (1) of Article 71) of workers in the interior of a building or in any other similar environment, in line with the actual conditions of the employer and workplace.

An employer must endeavor to continuously and systematically take the necessary measures to provide its workers with health education and health counseling and to otherwise help maintain and improve its workers' health.

A worker must endeavor to maintain and improve their health by making use of the measures taken by the employer as referred to in the preceding paragraph.

Beyond as provided for in the provisions of paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, an employer must endeavor to take the necessary measures to help maintain and improve workers' health, such as making it convenient for them to engage in physical exercise, recreational activities, and other activities.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare is to release the necessary guidelines in connection with the measures referred to in paragraph (1) of Article 69 that an employer is to take to help maintain and improve workers' health, in order to ensure their appropriate and effective implementation.

The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may provide the necessary guidance to employers and associations thereof in accordance with the guidelines referred to in the preceding paragraph.

The Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare referred to in paragraph (1) of Article 66, the guidelines referred to in paragraph (2) of Article 66-5, the Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare referred to in Article 66-6, and the guidelines referred to in paragraph (1) of the preceding Article must be in harmony with the Health Checkup Guidelines, etc. referred to in paragraph (1) of Article 9 of the Health Promotion Act.

In order to ensure the appropriate and effective implementation of measures to help maintain and improve workers' health, the State must endeavor to provide the necessary materials; facilitate the implementation of work environment monitoring and medical checkups; facilitate the setting up of installations that prevent passive smoking; facilitate the ensuring of instructors involved in health education in the workplace and the improvement of their quality; and extend other necessary assistance.

The State is to give special consideration to small and medium-sized employers when providing the assistance referred to in the preceding paragraph.