Keeping workers safe (NHK video)

May  16, 2014

Nuclear Watch: Keeping Clean-Up Workers Safe

Aired on May 16

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/newsline/201405162116.html 

This Nuclear Watch looks at the way workers at Fukushima Daiichi are hired and managed.

About 4,000 people work every day at the plant but only about a quarter of them are employed by TEPCO. The majority are contract workers.

NHK interviews a man who has worked at Fukushima in 2012. He said :

• ·         He had absolutely no contact with TEPCO

• ·         The workers work under unfair conditions

• ·         There is total lack of consideration for their safety : see the video under hidden camera of an official of the company who hired the interviewee giving false information on radiation exposure to reassure the workers.

TEPCO in fact has one prime contractor who provides the workers for the plant and….5 more subcontractors!

Last month, TEPCO launched a new company to deal exclusively with decommissioning. The new director, Naohiro Masuda, wants to improve the system and ensure  the workers’ safety.

Dale Klein, one of the foreign experts, reckons TEPCO should establish “a fair and transparent employment  system”. This is essential to guarantee a safe decommissioning of the plant.