著者
Koji Mori Seiichiro Tateishi Koh Hiraoka Toshihiko Kubo Ryuji Okazaki Katsunori Suzuki Yuichi Kobayashi Kimitoshi Kohno
出版者
(公社)日本産業衛生学会
雑誌
Journal of Occupational Health (ISSN:13419145)
巻号頁・発行日
pp.12-0134-CS, (Released:2012-11-27)
被引用文献数
7 26 3

A nuclear accident occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) as a result of a mega-earthquake and tsunami in March, 2011. A large number of workers were engaged in response and recovery operations under a complex structure of involved companies. They were exposed not only to radiation but also to other health hazards. TEPCO implemented programs to prevent radiation exposure, but had no effective systems for managing the other health risks and few occupational health (OH) professionals contributed to the health risk management. The University of Occupational and Environmental Health (UOEH), Japan, dispatched physicians to a quake-proof building at the plant t provide first-aid services from mid-May, 2011, and took a strategic approach to protecting workers’ from existing health risks. UOEH presented recommendations on OH systems and preventive measures against heat stress to the Government and TEPCO. The Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare issued guidelines to TEPCO and contractors. TEPCO implemented a comprehensive program against heat stress according to the guidelines and in cooperation with UOEH. As a result, we successfully prevented severe heat illness during summer 2011. From our experiences, we believe that the following recommendations should be considered: 1) the role of OH and the participation of experts should be defined in emergency response plans; 2) regulations should allow the national government and main companies involved to lead safety and health initiatives for all workers at disaster sites; and 3) OH professionals, response manuals and drills should be organized at a national level.
著者
Juri Matsuoka Rina Minohara Yuko Furuya Kota Fukai Haruna Hirosato Naoto Ito Kiminori Odagami Tomohisa Nagata Masako Nagata Yuichi Kobayashi Koji Mori
出版者
Japan Society for Occupational Health
雑誌
Environmental and Occupational Health Practice (ISSN:24344931)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.3, no.1, pp.2021-0001-FS, 2021 (Released:2021-09-25)
参考文献数
10

Objectives: To identify what types of information were useful and/or difficult to obtain for occupational physicians during the COVID-19 epidemic, and how information should be provided to help occupational physicians in the event of future outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases. Methods: The list was developed by categorizing information about COVID-19 delivered by researchers to a group of occupational physicians after the COVID-19 outbreak. We created a survey and asked the group about the usefulness and ease of obtaining each type of information. Results: In total, 79.1–100% of the occupational physicians said that each type of information was “Useful”. Information on the nature of the virus; clinical course, testing, and treatment; infection prevention measures; regulations in Japan; immigration restrictions in Japan; and guidelines were all considered useful by more than 95%, as was information about the introduction of information aggregation websites by public institutions, academic societies, experts, and others, and sharing of case studies by information distribution group members. These last two items also had a high percentage of respondents who said that they “only obtained the information because it was distributed this way”. Conclusions: Constructing a system for automatic distribution of information that is useful to occupational physicians and difficult to obtain elsewhere may make it easier for occupational physicians to respond more smoothly to emerging infectious disease outbreaks within a company.