information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
26 Décembre 2014
December 26, 2014
Kyodo
TOCHIGI PREF. – A construction firm in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture, had hired a high school student under 18 part-time to engage in cleaning of a house garden contaminated by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns, the municipal government disclosed Thursday.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s guideline prohibits people younger than 18 to engage in decontamination work, based on the Labor Standards Act, which bans youths from working in areas exposed to harmful radiation.
According to the municipal government, the firm employed the boy from Tochigi part-time for 36 days between August last year and May to carry gravel used to cover the ground of a house in Nasu after the contaminated surface soil is stripped away. The radiation level at the site was more than 0.23 microsieverts per hour, and the decontamination work was subsidized by the municipal government.
The boy has not suffered any health damage, the municipal government said.
The case came to light after an anonymous person reported it to the municipal government in October. The city reprimanded the firm in November and reported the case to the labor standards inspection office.
December 25, 2014
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20141225p2a00m0na002000c.html
NASU, Tochigi -- A construction company hired a high school student for work to decontaminate houses tainted with radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.
The Nasu Municipal Government revealed on Dec. 25 that a construction firm in the town employed a male high school student from outside the town as a part-timer for decontamination work in possible violation of the Labor Standard Act. The law prohibits engaging those under 18 for work that exposes individuals to harmful radiation. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has ruled that the legal ban applies to decontamination work.
The municipal government gave a verbal warning to the president of the construction company, while reporting the incident to a local labor standards inspection office in November.
According to town officials, the company hired a second-year high school student in August last year and engaged him in work to transport gravel using a wheelbarrow at a residential decontamination site in the town for a total of 36 days until May this year.
The practice surfaced after the town received written tips in October this year. The president of the construction firm was quoted as telling town officials, "I was aware that he was a high school student, but didn't think it could constitute a legal violation."
The town has conducted decontamination work on residences at the cost of its own taxpayers' money.
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