Status and future tasks of workplace safety from the perspective of safety promotion and safe community

Abstract

There have been few discussions about workplace safety in terms of safety promotion. This article reviews the current status and future tasks of workplace safety from the perspective of safety promotion. The Québec Document proposes that companies should be involved in safety promotion. According to the definition of safe community, various safety promotion activities are expected to take place in workplaces. In Japan, more than 100,000 workers have experienced accidents or sustain injuries in the workplace every year. Accidents and injuries are prone to occur in small companies: 70% of accidents and injuries occur in small-scale enterprises (SSEs) with less than 50 employees. If the company's safety system is established in accordance with Industrial Safety and Health Law, the indicators of safety in the workplace used in safe community will satisfy these standards. The problem is that the appointment of safety supervisors and establishment of a safety committee as promulgated in the Industrial Safety and Health Law are not required in SSEs and self-employed businesses, despite the fact that 97% of workplaces are SSEs. In this context, it is very important to develop methods for promoting safety measures in SSEs and self-employed businesses. SSEs and self-employed businesses have closer connections with the community than big companies, so people in charge of safety measures in SSEs and self-employed businesses are expected to have safe community perspectives. People in charge of safe community are also expected to have a perspective that workplace safety is a component of safe community.