TEPCO urged to be cautious about using foreign workers in Fukushima

Sadly, there are foreign workers who are so desperate for cash to help their families, that working here is a viable option for them despite the danger. And you can bet your bottom dollar that they will be taken advantage of

But, TEPCO has very little to do with the hiring or job allocation for these foreign workers. It is controlled by the scalping employment agencies.

Yes... be careful, because we wouldn't want the rest of the world to find out that Japan is using foreigners to clean up their nuclear disaster and when they're done, they're expected to leave the country.

TEPCO urged to be cautious about using foreign workers in Fukushima

Basically says "Don't get in trouble"... Japan doesn't care about the foreigner's health, just the public image.

Well it would be very regrettable if hundreds went home with cancers and the media caught onto it.

Could make a law with actual penalties, but that would be to mind blowing for politicans.

@Chipstar - The government controls who receives work visas and has a bit of a stake in TEPCO. It's effectively urging itself to do something.

That ‘bit of a stake’ is actually 51%.

The government controls who receives work visas and has a bit of a stake in TEPCO. It's effectively urging itself to do something.

Again urged? Cautious? That would be continuing to use foreign workers to clean up a Japanese disaster and please don't talk about it.

Basically says "Don't get in trouble"... Japan doesn't care about the foreigner's health, just the public image.

NAILED IT gogogo

Alex EinzToday 10:34 am JST

if a foreign worker doesnt understand where he works or totally ignorant about his location or work... cant fix stupid.

What an uneducated and distasteful comment.

Imagine someone born in the far country side in Indonesia or Philippines, sent to scrap some radioactive crap in Japan, being told he'll just help Japan reconstruction after the tsunami, not speaking Japanese, I sympathize with him.

Be cautious so that the workers won't be abused, not because they are foreigners

The new visa program launched this April is intended to bring in mainly blue-collar foreign workers to 14 labor-hungry sectors including construction, farming and nursing care in aging Japan

Shouldn't it be 14 pay-stingy sectors.

Neither foreigners, nor locals should have to clean up that mess. TEPCO officials should be crawling around there in their suits.

@Alex Einz

The reality of where workers have been sourced is most likely information that you have not been privy to-that is understandable.

However, the people I met that had experience of working in Fukushima were from Afghanistan.

Can "very deliberate consideration" be done during smoke breaks?

Exploitation before the Olympics

Foreigners should not be involved in this work. A mine field of future issues involved. Ridiculous that the J government is saying they can do this work. Their embassies should be raising this now and protesting with the Japanese government before the visas begin to be handed out.

Should the headline not read:

Foreign Workers urged not to work at Fukushima!

I met a foreign worker who worked at Fukushima- he hadn’t any idea of the events that had transpired nor that radiation had escaped!

This article is lip service.

They really shouldn't put any of these foreign workers in a position to have to work at Fukushima Dai Ichi.

These workers will be pressured to go there since they don't want to lose their visa/chance to work in Japan.

Japanese laborers have the option of turning this kind of assignment down and not worry about losing their right to live here.

The only people being employed here should be those who have the requisite knowledge and skills to decommission a nuclear power plant - and they should be paid accordingly.

If local workers refuse to do certain work tasks, may hint at the safety levels to avoid perhaps?

It is necessary to establish a safety and health management procedure that is equivalent or more advanced than that for Japanese workers," Nemoto s

Wao, .health management procedure that is more advanced than for Japanese workers.

Talk is really cheap indeed.

Yeah, because when news spreads Overseas about how people are REALLY treated, they might not be able to cover it up with the government's help quite as much.

It is hard enough just communicating in Japanese with doctors and nurses who are wearing face masks, where you cannot see their lip movements.

Now wear industrial masks, goggles and a helmet and overalls, stand in 35 degrees heat and high humidity in a noisy environment, and how many people will be able to hear and understand vital orders barked in Japanese? If the safety of the whole place hangs on coordination among workers, then I can see potential problems here already, before all of the other considerations mentioned above.

thepersoniamnowToday 06:57 am JST

Well it would be very regrettable if hundreds went home with cancers and the media caught onto it.

By the time it happens they'll be sent back home and scattered in SEA, no worries.

The government can easily solve this problem. First, no visas will be issued for any jobs at Fukushima. Second, no visas will ever be issued to prospective employees of any company that is found to have sent foreign workers to Fukushima either directly, or indirectly via subcontractors.

Instead of "urging", the government should start taking action.

From Japan's perspective, surely there's also the national security aspect to consider. Why would a country let non-nationals come in on a short term visa basis and work at sensitive sites like nuclear plants, especially ones that have melted down. Once you open this channel, there's always got to be potential for spying, sabotage, intelligence gathering by foreigners. I know Japan is desperate for help with the cleanup, but this is very naive.

BEEr4me, just for your knowledge , Fukushima actually had much much worse disaster than Chernobyl ,they just had much better luck keeping it on the low, partly because it being in Japan vs in middle of EU and because Japanese people on the whole are much more used to government control.

Btw, by independent reports, most of the counters installed on streets are a sham easily verified by personal dozimeters, and you could see Cherenkov beams in the perimeter cameras for few month after the disaster.

All 3 reactors have fully melted down and reactor pools , and probably also reactors themselves were exposed just like in Chernobyl ( hydrogen build up explosions dont just happen by force of nature ) , remember how group of US marines flying near to help drop water sued the jp gov later... those news quickly disappeared...

Alex Einz, while Fukushima is undoubtedly in Japan Chernobyl is not anywhere near the EU (which didn’t exist as such at the time), at the time it was well inside the Soviet Union.

I am not sure on what basis you claim Fukushima was worse than Chernobyl?

The Japanese government is inviting these people in to the country for the benefit of Japan, so the government must accept the responsibility of ensuring their safety (in all areas of employment) an put in place adequate, effective and proactive measures to guarantee this. And where necessary stringent and prompt action where the rules are breached. Otherwise they fail their international legal and moral duty.

TEPCO must be reading JT! Plan to hire foreigners at Fukushima has been put on hold, according to NHK. Sanity prevails. Can’t believe someone ever thought it was a good idea in the first place though....

Wouldn't allowing "Foreign workers to get their hands on Nuclear material" be a security risk, especially from Countries which have a sizable Extremist population ?

Watching Chernobyl on HBO and it reminds me of when Fukushima plant went Boom! Misleading information going in and out, panic, denial and in the end the people of the area payed the cost loosing their homes and life. I wish that the Japanese government would take more precautions and have a plan established to prevent any disaster in the future if any of the other plants go fully on line. Nuclear power is clean and is the future but it has it consequences when things go wrong.

the foreign workers employed here under the new visa system , supposed to be proficient enough in japanese to get said visa... so yes they should be able to communicate with everyone.

Zichi, yes they had both deformed animals, thyroid spread all over and more... its just that there is total media blanket over fukushima reporting in Japan. and yes by all measurements the radiation released by fukushima, far far over amount released at Ukraine.

so ? are you claiming people from afganistan cant read or watch TV?

and why would they import them from Afganistan.. arent these programs supposed to be highly controlled with skill testing and such... ? why would they import ISIS terrorists to work here ... and from remote villages , not speaking any language?

sorry,not sure whats wrong with foreigners working there? why does it have to be Japanese only ?

Implement better controls against exploitation but otherwise the more ,the better.

if a foreign worker doesnt understand where he works or totally ignorant about his location or work... cant fix stupid.