Japan endured one other day of a searing heatwave on Monday, with temperatures hovering to the best this yr in Tokyo and leaving these having to work outdoors weak to the chance of heatstroke.
Heatstroke alerts had been issued in 30 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, the best this yr, after the nation suffered its hottest June on file.
The excessive warmth, which has turn out to be a norm in summertime Japan, has changed into a serious office hazard, prompting the federal government to roll out labor security laws from final month requiring firms to implement safety measures in opposition to heatstroke.
Employers at the moment are required to make sure workers put on clothes that permits air to move by simply, to put in a ceiling to dam daylight and to supply a break house with air-conditioning or shade.
Heat-exposed employees, carrying air-conditioned jackets, which have cooling followers on their backs, are seen on the prime of an condominium constructing underneath development in Tokyo on Monday. Image: Reuters/Issei Kato
At an condominium development website in Tokyo, the place temperatures exceeded 35 levels Celsius for the primary time this yr on Monday, employees for Daito Trust Construction donned puffy air-conditioned jackets outfitted with cooling followers on their backs whereas at work.
The custom-made jacket, which the corporate developed with a development provides producer, makes use of thermoelectric results to boost cooling and has been distributed to 1,500 employees.
“When I wear this vest, I don’t sweat as much, so I don’t lose physical strength,” stated 47-year-old development employee Atsushi Mizutani.
Construction employees are significantly prone to heatstroke. They accounted for practically 20% of deaths or sicknesses attributable to heatstroke within the office in 2023, labor ministry information confirmed. The general variety of heatstroke instances at work greater than doubled that yr from a decade in the past.
“In the past, we didn’t wear air-conditioned jackets or anything like that and there weren’t as many cases of people collapsing (due to heat stroke) as there are now,” stated Takami Okamura, 57, who has been a development employee for 34 years.
“In recent years, air-conditioned jumpers and other such items have become a necessity, which makes me realize just how hot it gets.”
© Thomson Reuters 2025.