Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare / Resuming discussions on measures to prevent falls and falling accidents, to major revision of manuals
On the 7th, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare resumed discussions on measures to prevent falls, which are the most common occupational accidents at construction sites. In many cases of crashes from roofs, rooftops, openings, etc., which occur frequently, even the minimum preventive measures such as wearing safety belts are not taken. To ensure thorough legal compliance, the manual on the installation of safety equipment will be significantly reviewed. In order to prevent accidents during work on scaffolding, the direction is to strengthen the inspection system after assembly and before the start of work. In principle, the use of highly safe main scaffolding is adopted, and one-sided scaffolding is legally positioned as an exception, and it should be used only under certain conditions.
I would like to summarize the results of the discussion as a report as early as August.
On the same day, a meeting of "Practitioners' Meeting on Enhancement and Enhancement of Fall Prevention Measures in the Construction Industry" (Chairman: Hirotake Kanizawa, Professor, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Shibaura Institute of Technology) was held in Tokyo for the first time in about three and a half years. At the beginning, Mr. Kamaishi, Chief of the Safety and Health Department, said, "I look forward to a positive opinion toward the compilation. I would like to implement the measures that have been concluded." A practitioner of a construction company expressed his desire for effective measures in line with the actual conditions of the construction site. For constructive discussions, the industry side will also carefully explain the actual situation at the site.
According to the direction of measures presented by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare at the meeting, the work standard manual for the installation of safety equipment formulated in FY2015 to prevent falls will be significantly revised. Clarified the wearing of the "full harness type fall prevention device (safety belt)" that became completely mandatory in January. It also describes fall arrest measures from ladders, stepladders and low places (height less than 2 meters).
Looking at the cases of crashes during scaffolding work, there were many cases where there were no handrails or Mr. Naka. In order to ensure the safety of scaffolding, we will seek measures to improve the effectiveness of inspections.
There are some sites where the site is too small to build a main scaffold. If the scaffolding width is less than 1 meter, consider exceptionally allowing the use of one-sided scaffolding. The policy is to enhance the contents of the "Guidelines for Handrail Advance Construction Methods, etc." for popularization.
