#0045 Concealment of trauma and occupational accidents among Fukushima nuclear disaster decontamination workers: A case report
Safety of Decontamination Workers at the Fukushima Nuclear Site: A Case Study
The aftermath of the 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant led to thousands of workers from all over Japan being drafted to help control the levels of radioactivity around the plant. To this day, workers continue to clear the contaminated area of irradiated plants and debris. However, there is limited information on the health risks that these workers face.
We document a case study of a 59-year-old male worker who met an accident within the exclusion zone of the power plant, a particularly hazardous area at the site. The worker was blind in one eye due to a pre-existing condition. While clearing some plants in the exclusion zone, he stumbled on a gutter obscured by vegetation and fell, absorbing the impact of the fall on the right side of his chest.
The worker was admitted to our hospital a day later, with large bruises and shortness of breath. He had multiple rib fractures, leading to an accumulation on blood in the chest cavity and a collapsed right lung. Given the urgency of this condition, we treated the patient immediately by inserting a tube to drain the blood. A week later later, the symptoms subsided and the patient was discharged.
However, during payment, the patient requested for the case to be treated as “general,” although the case was originally listed as an occupational accident. He stated that he feared his employer would fire him if the labor authorities were made aware of the incident.
According to recent research, this is not an isolated case. The decontamination companies operating in Fukushima often violate the safety and employment regulations currently in place. Not only are workers involved in occupational accidents known to be fired for reporting them, they are also seldom given appropriate training and education about the gravity of the hazards they face.
Due to the dangerous nature of the work and the hard-manual labor required, most decontamination workers come from low-income backgrounds and have limited job prospects. These workers are also generally poorly educated and travel large distances to move to Fukushima for work. For fear of being terminated, they are less likely to insist on enforcing rigorous health and safety regulations.
This case reveals the drastic need for competent authorities to enforce strict safety regulations for the decontamination companies at Fukushima, secure worker’s rights, and guarantee fair employment contracts.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1348-9585.12123
Title of the paper:
Concealment of trauma and occupational accidents among Fukushima nuclear disaster decontamination workers: A case report
Authors:
Toyoaki Sawano, Hayato Tanaka, Daiki Watanabe, Akihiko Ozaki, Manabu Tsukada, Yoshitaka Nishikawa, Hiroaki Saito, Yuki Shimada, Tomohiro Morita, Hiromichi Ohira, and Masaharu Tsubokura
