Abstract
Currently, workplaces face various health challenges, including mental health issues and an increasing number of elderly workers. However, in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), occupational health activities remain insufficient. To address this situation, various measures were proposed, such as promoting greater utilization of existing systems like Regional Occupational Health Centers, leveraging the Occupational Health Activity Promotion Grant System through Organizations, enabling local primary care physicians to support small-scale workplaces in the community, enhancing coordination between occupational physicians and occupational health nurses, reinforcing corporate training directive systems, and introducing a certification system to evaluate contractors' workforce structures and occupational safety and health initiatives. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has positioned small-scale workplace measures within the 14th Industrial Accident Prevention Plan, and it is essential to steadily advance these initiatives while considering the above proposals.
