Car mechanic at crippled Fukushima plant died due to overwork

100 hours overtime!

that is obscene and someone should be held accountable for allowing this to happen.

Thay wont though.

He usually showed up at his employer's office in Iwaki to punch his time card at around 4:30 a.m. before heading to the Fukushima nuclear plant. Labor authorities are believed to have recognized the travel time as working hours rather than commuting time, according to the center.

This is asinine. If he is working at Fukushima he punches his time card, if not, the minute he punches his card he is legally working! Anyone who thinks it's not is a sucker!

Should read....If he is working at Fukushima, he should be punching his card there, otherwise no matter where he punches, the minute he does, his is on the clock!

Lots of heart problems in Fukushima.

Tragic.

If you are required to report to a location to punch in then sent elsewhere that is work time. Japanese companies might pay the transport, but not the time on the transport. 100 hours exta should be paid for. As its job related. It's absolutely absurd that anyone dies from over work. If companies had to pay for this time with a 20% Premiun, overtime would drastically be reduced...although as it stands many companies could not make a profit without this slave labor and close, ineptitude paid for by the workers.

@kurisupisu - Lots of heart problems in Fukushima.

Yeah, well, working 100 hours overtime per month with little sleep and a poor diet will give a person health issues very quickly. That works out nearly 7 weeks work in 4 weeks. I'm sure his employer was happy with getting that much revenue each month just from one worker. I'm also sure the worker's salary didn't reflect nearly 7 weeks work in a month.

The thing I don't understand is, why do so many people continue to do these ridiculous hours of overtime. Even the government limit of 80 hours a month is absurd. People need to learn to say "NO!" and just walk out. The employers doing this to their workers need to be severely penalised and even receive jail time. It is manslaughter or even a kind of murder. This article should be in the crime section.

It's just another day in Japan...a lot of lip service by the government about making changes, but nothing changes

Another hero gone too soon. Thanks for your service, Igari-san.

This working mentality is built in to the Japanese psyche.  Learned from a very young age at school and at home.  On top of that, the top down social structure doesn't easily allow for underlings to complain to their superiors.  Employees expect to work overtime (without pay) and employers expect them to do so as well. Thus the high rates of work by death and suicide.

S

All is well, please take another virtual tour of how wonderful the cleanup is... nothing to see here.

Over work is handy language for radiation contamination.

Black Flag nailed it.

Until we get real oversite in this country and real labor and pay changes. It’s going to be run 'em into the ground as usual until they die and power harassment. The problem here is in Japan. To many bosses with big salaries and even bigger bonuses claiming they are poor.

I wonder how fast his employer replaced his ace guy? Can you imagine you’re the new mechanic talking with others working at the plant? How would you feel? You just replaced a guy the dropped dead from fixing cars/trucks and generators at plant that logged a 100 hours overtime. I bet that is an awkward conversation with other workers working at the plant.

@Magnet - Another hero gone too soon. Thanks for your service, Igari-san.

Say what? Only in Japan would somebody be considered a hero for working themselves to death. Perhaps Japanese people need to understand that, you work to live, you don't live to work. You definitely don't work yourself to death for a company that is just abusing your skills for their own profit. That is just utterly absurd!

Ive just googled his works office and the Dai ichi plant is about 55km and 1 hour 10 minutes drive each way. Personally I think that once you have clocked on you should be paid from that time until you clock off, especially when your boss sends you somewhere. I hate to say it but its about time Japanese workers learned the phrase " no I am going home" " sorry that's not possible" and "good buy, Ill see you tomorrow" this is just another sad loss that could have been avoided.

The employers doing this to their workers need to be severely penalised and even receive jail time. It is manslaughter or even a kind of murder. This article should be in the crime section.

Usually it's not so clear-cut with particular individuals you can point a finger at, unless there was also harassment or tampering with time cards etc. From Japanese husband's 3 years in a "black company" we observed the following: Smart companies make sure everything looks in keeping with or better than the labor laws on paper. Smart bosses make sure to drop comments like "you should go home" "are you sure you're ok?" --so that when questioned later, they can say "jiko sekinin" and pin the responsibility on the victim and say he did it all voluntarily. They make full use of the taboo against failing people who are "counting on you", and the consequence of being branded as an unreliable, morally or socially lacking person for so doing. The honest types who can't manipulate themselves into a more advantageous position within this structure are most vulnerable to being used like this past their limits. That kind of "kuuki" doesn't always leave a paper trail with clear perpetrators, and is conveniently invisible when investigations and compliance inspections happen.

Educator60, I'm interested in that data as well, it would also be good to remember such studies can only examine reported or recorded hours and officially recognized instances of karoshi, and consider factors that could result in over- or under-reporting depending on the country or industry in question.