Supreme Court of Japan Declared  Guilty toward a defendant who played stimulant transport role although he even insisted  he "did not know"

 The following breakdown of the total number of 1,084,000 is based on the “Notification of employment of alien status”. (As of the end of October, 2016)

 

Alien residents can work in Japan according to the following forms under the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act of Japan.

 

The “Notification of employment of alien status” is a system that obliges employers to report to the “Hello Work” after confirming the name, status of residence, period of stay, etc. at the time of employment or separation of those who are alien status. (Employment Countermeasure Act 28 Article). "Diplomacy" "official" and "special permanent resident" are excluded.

 

■ Major status of residence applicable to "specialized / technical fields" 

(2) Those residing in Japan based on their statuses are approximately 413,000 such as "Settlers"(mainly Nikkei & Japanese ancestry), "permanent resident", "Japanese spouse, etc."

 

·They can receive compensation in various fields because there are no restrictions of their activities under these status of residence.

 

(3) Those who have the “Technical Internship” are approximately 211,000.

 

·It aims for international cooperation to developing countries through skill transfer.

·With the revised Immigration Control Law enforced on July 1, 2010, the technical intern trainee will be granted a status of residence of the "Technical Internship" with the employment relation from the first year of immigration (Technical intern trainees who changed their qualification after the same day can receive the same status).

 

(4) Those who participate in the “Specific activities” are approximately 19,000 such as foreign nurse, nursing care worker candidate, working holiday etc. based on EPA.

 

·Foreign nationals residing in Japan under the status of residence of the "Specific Activity" will be subjected to the approval whether or not to be able to receive compensation based on the contents of individual permits.

 

(5) Those who are under the activities outside the status of qualification (part-time job for international students, etc.) are approximately 240,000.

 

·Activities that can receive remuneration are permitted within the range not inhibiting the activities of the original status of residence (such as within 28 hours in a week,) if it is deemed appropriate.

 

"Overwork" is more attentive to people with strength, which will be “silent killer.”

 

While wind has become gradually warm with the fragrance of the flowers these days, are your heart and body fine? I am Hiroshi Okuda a psychiatrist. Today I would like to talk about long-term labor following the previous article entitled “the signs of sleep deprivation are dangerous caution!”

 

Last time I talked mainly about sleep debt which begins to accumulate as long as sleep deprivation continues due to long hours of labor, as well as causes poor performance and accidents. Also, in order to take good sleep and restore fatigue, I also told you not only the net sleeping time but also the time to slow down by relaxing the mind and body.

 

Do you know that Japanese labor law actually is considering such a medical knowledge including such as sleeping as well?

 

There is a "notification of agreement on overtime and holiday work" commonly referred to as 36 (sub-block) agreement. This is an agreement on which Article 36 of the Labor Standards Act is based, and Article 36 stipulates that in cases where you are forced to work more than statutory working hours (8 hours a day, 40 hours a week), or to have a holiday work , We have to conclude written agreements in labor and management in advance ". For that reason, even if only one worker is employed, the employer is required to submit overtime work over the statutory working hours, this notification is mandatory. This agreement is surely concluded at your workplace.

 

■ Overtime work within 45 hours a month is the border line that can maintain good health

 

If we report this 36 agreement, I wonder whether we can force overtime work to the extent that we want. Absolutely it is no such a way. The upper limit of the extension time is firmly defined by "Criteria on limit of overtime work" (Notification of Ministry of Labor).

 

· 45 hours for one month

 

· 360 hours for 1 year

 

That is the limit standard.

 

The criterion in this 36 agreement that limits within 45 hours of the month is taken into consideration healthy sleeping time and time to slow down the mind and body. I think that it is a rational criterion considered very well in psychiatry.

 

Out of 24 hours a day, the statutory working hours are 8 hours, the lunch break is 1 hour, and the average commuting time is 1 hour, the time left for such as meals, bathing, dressing, and family ties is limited within 4 hours minimum If it is considered, the rest is 10 hours. In order to get healthy sleeping for 7 to 8 hours in this 10 hours, the time you can work overtime is naturally 2 to 3 hours a day. Some people will take an hour or more to commute, and some people need eight hours to sleep, so the time that everyone can work overtime without difficulty is about two hours a day. In other words, considering it in a month, it roughly agrees with 45 hours of the 36 agreement (※ However, if you attach special clause to 36 agreement, you can make overtime work over 45 hours a month up to 6 months a year. Special clauses are also very problematic medically as a cause of long working hours and urgent review is desired).

 

Regarding the accident criteria for death from overwork caused by brain / heart disease, statistical data on various diseases indicate "overtime work within 45 hours per month for 1 month to 6 months before onset" The relevance is weak, but the longer it goes over 45 hours, the stronger the relevance will be. For overtime over 100 hours for one month before onset or over 80 hours on average for 2 to 6 months, work and onset There is a guideline such as "strong relevance to" [2]. In other words, overtime work of 45 hours a month can be thought of as "an overtime line that can keep working well while maintaining health" both medically and occupational hygiene.

 

[2] Certification of occupational accidents of brain / heart disease - "death from overwork" Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare

 

Again, if you say overtime work for 45 hours a month, overtime will be around 2 hours a day in a simple calculation. Do you have overtime hours within this range?

 

I am concerned that perhaps many people have far exceeded this 45 hour line. In mid-February 2017, in the Working Reform Conference, the government presented to set a ceiling on maximum overtime up to 60 hours per month, and up to 720 hours per year, etc. with penalties. Although it is still not close to the 45-hour line, it is a good sign that the government is considering that a grant-giving system will be introduced to small and medium-sized enterprises that employed the "inter-duty interval system".

 

The inter-duty interval system is a system to set an interval time of a fixed time from the end of the final work day of the day including overtime work until the start of the next day. It has already been adopted in the European Union (EU) member countries, and this interval is assumed to be 11 hours. Even if overtime gets increased in the busy season and goes home late at night and you do not have to work until 11 o'clock in the next morning, it will be easier to secure the important sleeping time, which is a key to your health, so I think that it is a formal system that you can reasonably be in medicine. I am also encouraging the companies that I am in charge to consider introducing it.

 

■ What happens to the body when sleeping debt and fatigue accumulate?

 

Well, I will return to sleep debt and fatigue. As overwork time goes on for a long time and the time for slowdown disappears and the debts of sleep are accumulating rapidly, naturally tiredness gathers steadily in both body and mind.

 

Accumulation of this fatigue, that is "overwork", creates a very scary health hazard. I would like to enumerate the terrible health hazards while adding my experience as a medical doctor to medical knowledge.

 

First of all, when fatigue begins to accumulate, the following conditions are likely to appear as initial symptoms.

 

[Initial symptoms when fatigue has accumulated]

 

○ If you start eating late at night, sleep will be shallow and waking up in the morning will be worse. Also, in the morning stomach tears remain and breakfast is pulled out, so the efficiency of work in the morning starts to decline.

 

○ Because of tiredness, metabolism gets worse, and the heaviness of the body cannot be taken every day.

 

○ Memory power and inspiration power decrease. The tactic becomes ineffective. As a result, careless mistakes and delays in initial movement begin to appear.

 

○ The mental state becomes unstable, irritation and anxiety become easy and high, as the result, work and private human relations become jerky.

 

○ Even if it gets to work at night it will not leave your mind, sleeping will become worse, sleep will become shallow and wake up many times at night and the quality of sleep will start to deteriorate.

 

Furthermore, as accumulation of fatigue increases over a long period of time, the following serious symptoms appear.

 

[Symptoms when fatigue lasted for a long time]

 

○ Overall body fatigue becomes severe, the head and the body bowl and become inoperable as you think. The efficiency of work is greatly reduced. Also, various large and small mistakes and human relations troubles often occur.

 

○ The energy to enjoy the meal disappears, the appetite decreases and it gets thinner.

 

○ Immune function declines, it is more likely to be associated with colds and infections.

 

→ It becomes easy to develop cancer in the long term.

 

○ Increased risk of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cerebrovascular accident.

 

→ In the worst case, death from overwork.

 

○ The autonomic nervous system collapses, malfunction such as palpitations (dullness), dizziness, gastrointestinal disorders and so on will come into full swing.

 

○ The normal thinking ability and judgment power are reduced, making it impossible to think positively. Full-scale insomnia and depression occur.

 

→ Suicide in the worst case.

 

The terrible negative influence that accumulation of fatigue brings like this is full of enormous figures. Moreover, this is a clear medical fact that can occur to anyone regardless of gender and woman.

 

■ Overwork is "silent killer"

 

Even more frighteningly, overwork is so-called "silent killer". Tiredness and accumulation of fatigue begin to be noticed by the person himself; it takes time until a decisive symptom comes out as they originally were strong and healthy. Therefore, many people do not notice until reaching the marginal condition, indeed, until when they consult with excessive labor interviews. I often think that they are indifferent and completely unaware of it in case the more men with physical fitness and energy are, the less symptoms of overwork are occurring..

 

And the scariest is "death from overwork". When fatigue accumulates to a high degree, a person who should not have any sickness suddenly develops a fatal illness such as arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction and the like, and may suddenly die.

 

In order to prevent such situations, not only the self-care of workers themselves but also the consciousness reform of the safety consideration by employers and administrators becomes very important. Next time I would like to tell you about important matters that employers and administrators must mainly know.

 

Hiromi Okuda a psychiatrist (mental health care professional), industrial physician, writer. He graduated from Yamaguchi University medical school in 1992. He is involved in the mental care and health care of many working people every day as a psychiatric clinic and 18 industrial physicians in the metropolitan area. He is also focusing on writing activities and many books such as "Mindfulness everywhere for a minute" (Japan Management Association Management Center), "Why are the top people sleeping?" (Mikasa Shobo). We have launched the Japan Mindfulness Promotion Association and are also disseminating mindfulness meditation for Japanese.