First Responsibility Person for Enterprise Safety: Transition from “Employer” to “Business Owner”——Starting Point for Stipulation of Industrial Safety and Health Law in Japan

The underlying causes for separation of industrial safety and health proceedings from Labor Standards Act for legislation in Japan in 1970s was the disputes and prevarication over accidents as incurred by obscure definition of person of the first responsibility for safety in addition to some provisions in the ACT not adaptive to demands for economic development. For this reason, person of the first responsibility for safety was changed from “Employer” to “Business Owner”, the starting point for stipulation of Industrial Safety and Health Law. It is also essential for China to take the secondary orientation of occupational health monitoring functions in Code of Occupational Disease Prevention as revised and implemented in 2011 as the opportunity to put stipulation of Occupational Safety and Health Act on the agenda as early as possible. Furthermore, it is also necessary to take settlement of outstanding practical problems as the starting point.