2022 Volume 57 Issue 4 Pages 3-27
This study aims to clarify the measures implemented by coal mining companies to reduce work-related injuries specifically, miners’ nystagmus (designated as an occupational disease in 1929). This followed the increase in the level of work-related accident compensation for miners after the “Miners’ Labor Relief Regulations” came into effect in 1916. In terms of work-related accidents, this study examines the measures taken to address work-related injuries that occurred daily, rather than serious accidents caused by combustible gas and coal dust, which have been the subject of extensive research. We consider the Miike Coal Mine in Japan as a case study.
Previous studies explain the reasons for the decline in work-related injuries at Miike Coal Mine after the mid-1920s as follows. (1) the spread of safety competition, which was introduced as a rationalization policy during the post-World War I recession, and (2) the advancement of safety committee organization, which was part of labor-management cooperation.
This study, however, shows that companies improved workplace lighting prior to the institutional changes described above. These workplace improvements allowed miners to work in a safer and more efficient environment. We found that (1) darkness in the mines, which had been a problem inherent to coal mining, was alleviated and thereby, work-related injuries were reduced, and (2) an occupational disease called miner’s nystagmus (caused by working long hours in the dark) was prevented or resolved. Our findings also show that these improvements in underground lighting may also have been effective as a basis for the rationalization of production processes that developed in the second half of the 1920s.
