Heatstroke Prevention Measures to Be Required in Workplaces; Japan Health Ministry to Impose Penalties for Negligence

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:17 JST, March 13, 2025

Businesses will be required to take steps to prevent heatstroke among their employees, and will face penalties for negligence in this regard, the health ministry has decided.

Heatstroke-triggered accidents have been increasing in the workplace, and countermeasures were deemed necessary to detect workers’ symptoms earlier and ensure adequate treatment. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to make such efforts compulsory from June, through a revision of a ministerial ordinance of the Industrial Safety and Health Law.

A subcommittee of the Labor Policy Council, which is an advisory body to the ministry, on Wednesday approved an outline of the revisions that would require companies to take measures against heatstroke.

The outline uses wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) — also known as the heat index — which is calculated from factors such as temperature and humidity. Employers will be required to take steps when staff work for at least one unbroken hour, or at least four hours a day total, in an environment where the WBGT index is 28 C or higher, or the air temperature is 31 C or higher.

Specifically, companies will have to establish a system to quickly identify workers at risk of heatstroke and internally report such cases, while also compiling a manual for emergency treatment to prevent the aggravation of employees’ symptoms and transport them to medical institutions.

It will also be mandatory to inform workers of the steps taken.

Penalties of up to six months in jail, or a fine of up to ¥500,000, will be imposed on businesses and representatives that neglect such measures. The ministry plans to promulgate a revised ordinance in April and put it into effect in June.

Thirty people died because of heatstroke at work, according to preliminary figures for last year. A record 1,195 were forced to take four or more days off, which exceeded the previous record of 1,178 in 2018, a year that saw historically high temperatures.

The ministry deemed relevant measures were necessary, as neglect of early symptoms and delays in treatment have aggravated patients’ condition.