Labor and management have agreed to require safety or health managers at businesses with 20 to fewer than 50 employees in five high-risk industries, expanding a rule previously applied to larger workplaces. The measure covers manufacturing, forestry, sewage and waste treatment, waste collection and recycling, and environmental cleanup, affecting about 30,000 businesses from a planned 2028 start. The agreement responds to the concentration of fatal industrial accidents in businesses with fewer than 50 employees, where safety duties can currently be assigned after only 16 hours of training and oversight has been criticized as inadequate.
Employers may receive recognition for carrying out specified training and risk-assessment activities instead of directly hiring a manager, while the government plans to support personnel, training and program costs and allow outsourcing to specialist institutions.