Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2024, publiée 113ème session CIT (2025)

Convention (n° 81) sur l'inspection du travail, 1947 - Japon (Ratification: 1953)

Articles 3, 13 and 17 of the Convention. Activities of the labour inspectorate in the area of occupational safety and health (OSH). The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government, regarding the violation rates detected in the period 2020–22, in the tertiary industry (including retail business, social welfare institutions and restaurants), the construction sector, manufacturing, and land transport, following the Committee’s previous comments, which noted a general violation rate of 70.9 per cent in those four sectors. The Committee notes that, according to those statistics, there has been an increase in the number of violations detected in those four sectors combined, from 101,216 cases in 2020 to 124,653 cases in 2022. In 2022, the land transportation sector recorded the highest rate of violations (76 per cent), followed by the manufacturing sector (74.8 per cent), the tertiary industry (74.2 per cent), and finally the construction sector (64.7 per cent). According to the 2022 Annual Labour Inspection Report, the construction sector recorded 281 fatalities, representing 36.3 per cent of the total number of fatalities. The Government indicates that measures taken to maximize and secure the necessary volume of inspection work in those sectors includes the elaboration of inspection plans that accurately reflect the reality in the relevant jurisdictions, and rationalising clerical work within agencies. The Committee also notes the statistics provided by the Government regarding the number of orders of suspension issued to prevent industrial accidents, between 2020 and 2022, and its statement that, out of the cases sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2022, including cases involving OSH violations, 266 cases were prosecuted, while 501 were not, and 264 resulted in fines as of January 2024. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on any specific measures taken to strengthen labour inspection activities in the abovementioned sectors, to secure the enforcement of legal provisions on OSH. Noting persisting high rates of violations in those sectors, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide statistics on the number of occupational accidents recorded and the violation rates in the land transportation sector, the manufacturing sector, the tertiary industry and the construction sector. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the reasons why 65 per cent of cases involving OSH violations (501 of 767) were not prosecuted, as well as measures taken by the labour inspectorate in those cases involving violations that were not prosecuted.

Articles 3 and 18. Activities of the labour inspectorate related to hours of work. Following its previous comments on the measures taken to strengthen the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to hours of work, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that labour inspectors have provided corrective guidance regarding illegal overtime work to 14,147 out of the 33,218 workplaces where inspection and guidance were provided in 2022 (42.6 per cent). The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that labour inspectors have established new guidelines for companies to ensure a proper assessment of working hours. In addition, the Committee notes the observations of the JTUC-RENGO, according to which, in its “Outline of Measures to Prevent Death and Injury from Overwork” revised in July 2024, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare stated that it would upgrade the system of labour inspection offices, implement thorough supervision and guidance toward companies suspected of implementing overwork, and strengthen measures toward companies where death from overwork occur. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information on the measures taken to strengthen supervision over the application of legal provisions relating to hours of work, including in the context of the “Outline of Measures to Prevent Death and Injury from Overwork”. In the absence of information on these matters, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide any available information on: (i) enforcement of the new Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote Work Style Reform; (ii) the cases of violations of other legal provisions related to working hours, and in particular, of the limits on overtime work, and the measures taken by the labour inspectorate in this regard; and (iii) the number of instances where death from overwork occurred, and the Government’s response to those instances.

Articles 20 and 21. Publication and content of the annual report on the work of the labour inspectorate. The Committee takes note of the annual labour inspection reports of 2021 and 2022 and their summaries, which have been communicated by the Government, and of the information contained therein. The Committee takes note of this information, which addresses its previous request.