Abstract
The 13th Workplace Accident Prevention Plan, formulated by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), covers the five-year period from 2018 to 2023 and aims to reduce workplace accidents and create a safe and healthy workplace. The 13th Plan has a target of reducing fatalities by at least 15% by 2022, especially in the forestry industry. The serious occupational accidents occur not only in the forestry industry but also in primary industries including agriculture and fisheries.
The authors have been conducting research to develop measures to prevent such occupational accidents as part of the MHLW Science Research Grant (Comprehensive Research Project on Occupational Safety and Health) 「Research on Formulation of Measures to Prevent Occupational Accidents in the Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Industries in Accordance with the Characteristics of the Accidents(H30-Roudou-Ippan-006)」from FY 2018 to FY 2020. In this paper, we introduce our efforts. We collected case studies from various business entities, agricultural cooperatives and other organizations, and government agencies, extracted good and bad practices from the case studies, and proceeded with studies to propose preventive measures and model projects for occupational injuries and health disorders, including cooperation among administrative organizations, industry, government, and academia. Model projects were formulated for each type of business in the primary industry. In addition, it was suggested that continuous awarenessraising can be achieved if support in terms of human resources, material supplies, and useful information can be obtained from all related parties.
