Occupational health hazards among migrant forestry and construction workers in a mountainous rural area. Part 1. Migrant forestry work / 日本農村医学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

High economic growth since the late 1950's has brought about a severe labour shortage in Japan. Japanese industry sought migrant workers as one reliable source of labour. As seasonal and unskilled workers, they were employed in a wide variety of trades ; for example, construction, manufacturing, forestry and transportation. However, some of the migrant work was becoming a principal and nonseasonal occupation, and specialized. Migrant forestry and tunnel-construction work are two examples of such specialized work.<BR>To identify health problems among them, we examined the factors affecting workers' entry into migrant forestry and tunnel-construction work, working conditions, and health care services at the workplace by interviewing 65 migrant wokers identified at Hayama Village in Kochi Prefecture, one of the areas well known for providing migrant wokers. Moreover, we carried out health examinations for vibration disease and pneumoconiosis. In this report, we show the results of analysis on 35 migrant forestry workers.<BR>The main factors affecting their entry into migrant forestry work were unstable and poor socioeconomic conditions in the area and the strong demand for a workforce during the rapid economic growth from the late 1950's in Japan. Most of the wage configuration was for piece and contracted work, which promoted long working hours and above-average consecutive work days. They engaged in cutting down, collecting and transporting trees, using vibrating tools such as chain saws, bush cutters, collecting machines and so on. High levels of vibration-exposure quite exceeded the limit of the Ministry of Labour and lasted continuously over 17 years. A difference in labor conditions and working situations was observed between migrant workers who devoted themselves to migrant forestry work and those who did not. Health care administration including health examinations was inadequate. There had been no case of vibration disease identified at the workplace. However, 68 percent among 25 examinees were diagnosed as suffering from vibration disease. Moreover, 40 percent of the subjects experienced absences of more than 4 days due to occupational accidents.