Industrial physician appointment.
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In Japan, industrial physician (産業医, Sangyō-i) appointment is an important occupational-health obligation under the Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA). The basic rule is that an employer must appoint an industrial physician at every workplace that regularly employs 50 or more workers.
1. Legal requirement for appointment
Under Article 13 of the Industrial Safety and Health Act, the employer must appoint an appropriately qualified physician to perform worker-health-management duties. The appointment requirement is generally triggered at a workplace with 50 or more regularly employed workers.
The appointment must generally be made within 14 days after the event giving rise to the appointment obligation under the Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance.
The obligation is attached to the individual establishment/workplace (事業場) rather than simply the total number of employees of the corporate group.
2. Number and type of industrial physician
| Workplace size / circumstances | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 50–999 workers | Generally 1 industrial physician; a part-time/contract physician may be permitted |
| 500+ workers engaged in specified hazardous work | Dedicated industrial physician required |
| 1,000+ workers | Dedicated industrial physician required |
| More than 3,000 workers | At least 2 industrial physicians |
These thresholds are reflected in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's guidance.
3. Qualifications
The industrial physician must be a physician who satisfies the prescribed occupational-health qualifications. Examples include completion of specified occupational-health training, passing the health section of the Labour and Health Consultant examination, or meeting specified university teaching requirements in occupational health.
4. Main functions of an industrial physician
The industrial physician is not simply a doctor who treats ordinary illnesses. The role is primarily preventive occupational health.
Important functions include:
- Health examinations and follow-up measures.
- Assessment of workers' health in relation to their work.
- Management of the working environment.
- Advice concerning work management.
- Health consultations and health education.
- Prevention of occupational diseases.
- Investigation of causes of health impairment and prevention of recurrence.
- Advice concerning long working hours and mental-health risks.
- Workplace inspections.
- Recommendations to the employer concerning necessary health measures.
An industrial physician must generally conduct a workplace inspection at least once every month and take or recommend necessary action where working methods or sanitary conditions could harm workers' health.
5. Employer's duty to cooperate
Appointment alone is not sufficient. The employer must provide the industrial physician with information necessary for proper health management, including relevant information concerning workers' working hours and health-management measures. Article 13 expressly places this information-provision obligation on the employer.
The industrial physician can make recommendations concerning worker health, and the employer is required to respect those recommendations.
The employer also must not disadvantage the industrial physician because the physician made a recommendation, instruction or advice concerning occupational health.
6. Importance in long-working-hours and mental-health cases
The appointment requirement is closely connected with the employer's broader duty of care/safety obligation. Japanese courts have repeatedly recognised that employers must manage work so that excessive fatigue and psychological burdens do not damage employees' physical or mental health.
This means that an industrial physician can be particularly important where there are signs of:
- excessive overtime;
- depression or other mental-health problems;
- occupational disease;
- workplace stress;
- repeated health complaints;
- dangerous working conditions; or
- difficulty returning to work after illness.
7. Important Case Laws
Because there are relatively few reported Japanese judgments that deal directly and solely with failure to appoint an industrial physician, the following cases are important for understanding the legal principles surrounding the industrial-physician system, employer health obligations, occupational safety and medical/health-management issues.
1. Dentsu Case — Supreme Court, 24 March 2000
Case No. 1998 (O) Nos. 217 & 218
An employee of Dentsu worked extremely long hours, developed depression and eventually committed suicide. The Supreme Court recognised that an employer has a duty to protect employees from health damage caused by excessive accumulation of fatigue and psychological burden.
Relevance: An industrial physician's role in identifying excessive workload and recommending appropriate measures is closely connected with this employer health-protection obligation.
2. Toshiba Case — Supreme Court, 24 March 2014
The Supreme Court considered a worker who developed mental-health problems in connection with substantial work burdens. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare identifies the case as an important mental-health precedent concerning the employer's safety consideration obligation under Article 5 of the Labour Contract Act.
Relevance: Employers cannot necessarily wait for an employee to make a formal health complaint before taking reasonable steps to protect health.
3. Asbestos Construction Workers Case — Supreme Court, 17 May 2021
The Supreme Court considered the relationship between occupational health protection and the Industrial Safety and Health Act in asbestos-exposure litigation. The judgment discussed the statutory purpose of protecting workers' safety and health and the employer's obligations concerning prevention of health impairment.
Relevance: Industrial-health management is part of a broader statutory system requiring preventive measures against occupational health hazards.
4. Supreme Court Judgment, 27 April 2004
The Supreme Court considered occupational health and the employer's obligations concerning hazardous working conditions under the Industrial Safety and Health Act. The judgment emphasised the Act's purpose of securing worker safety and health and preventing health impairment.
Relevance: The industrial physician operates within this preventive health-and-safety framework rather than functioning merely as an ordinary treating physician.
5. Kanagawa SR Management and Labor Center Case
This case concerned an industrial physician's assessment of an employee's return to work after mental-health-related leave. The court ruled in favour of reinstatement despite the industrial physician's refusal to approve the return for reasons connected with workplace interpersonal concerns. The case illustrates the importance of properly defining the industrial physician's professional role and distinguishing medical work-capacity assessment from ordinary workplace-management decisions.
Relevance: An industrial physician's opinion is important, but the physician's role must remain within the proper occupational-health framework.
6. Excessive Overtime / Mental-Health Safety-Duty Case
Japanese labour-court precedent has held an employer responsible where it failed to properly monitor an employee's working conditions, permitted approximately 100 hours of monthly overtime, recognised signs suggesting depression, and failed to reduce the employee's workload.
Relevance: Effective industrial-health arrangements require actual monitoring and preventive action; simply having a nominal health system may not be enough where the employer knows or should know of serious health risks.
8. Small workplaces
Workplaces with fewer than 50 workers generally do not have the same mandatory industrial-physician appointment requirement. However, employers are still expected to take appropriate measures for worker health, and Japan provides regional occupational-health support arrangements for smaller workplaces.
9. Recent procedural development
A 2026 amendment to the Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance, effective 1 August 2026, introduced reporting arrangements concerning the resignation or other departure of an industrial physician at workplaces subject to the appointment obligation. This is intended to improve authorities' ability to monitor whether required industrial physicians remain properly appointed.
Conclusion
Industrial physician appointment is a statutory occupational-health requirement in Japan, normally beginning at 50 regularly employed workers per workplace. The physician's role covers health examinations, workplace inspections, health-risk assessment, mental-health and workload issues, occupational-disease prevention and recommendations to management. The surrounding case law demonstrates that Japanese employers have a broader obligation to protect employees from excessive fatigue, psychological burden and occupational health hazards. Appointment of an industrial physician therefore forms part of the employer's preventive health-and-safety system, rather than being merely a formal compliance requirement.
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