Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism / Civil engineering works under direct control set construction period in consideration of extremely hot days, realizing two days off per month
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has compiled a package of measures to realize two days off per month for civil engineering work under its direct control. From fiscal 2023, the method of calculating the "rain holiday rate" will be revised, including taking into account extremely hot days when setting construction schedules, and clarifying that the number of days for assembling and dismantling heavy machinery and creating inspection data will be taken into account according to site conditions. While the current compensation for expenses remains unchanged in fiscal 2023, we will consider new compensation measures for two days off per month. As the ordering party, he also announced a stance to check the implementation status of the two-day work week, and set a goal of realizing a two-day work week on a monthly basis after fiscal 2024
This is a response based on the fact that monthly working hours will also be subject to the upper limit of overtime work with penalties that will apply in April 2024. Previously, we sought to complete the work for the two-day work week on a full-year basis, but since the achievement rate has risen to nearly 100%, we aim to shift to "improving the quality of holidays" by achieving it on a monthly basis.
The construction period setting will be optimized by considering holidays and days when work is not possible, and will be reflected in the construction period setting guidelines and the construction period setting support system used by the ordering party. When calculating the rain holiday rate, clarification will be made to eliminate cases where holidays overlap with rain/snow days, and extremely hot days will be newly added. Use the past five-year average of the number of days when the heat index (WBGT value) is "31 or higher".
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism took the example of road improvement work in Fukuoka Prefecture, where the construction period was 365 days under the current guidelines, and calculated that the construction period would be extended to 384 days due to the new rain holiday rate. In addition, we will revise the guidelines so that we can appropriately consider the number of days required for handling heavy machinery and inspection data for each site, and the days when traffic is restricted during events.
In the common specifications and the standards for supervision and inspection, the orderer should confirm that there are two days off per week. The construction plan prepared by the contractor will include new statutory holidays and prescribed holidays. Based on the idea that 2 days off per week is the standard, we will discontinue adding points in the construction performance evaluation, and treat it as an observance item in the future. With a view to reflecting the system from fiscal 2024 onwards, the government will consider flexible setting of holidays and correction of expenses, such as implementing a trial of partially switching from a closed site to a shift system during the construction period.
