Japan MHLW to Adopt Autonomous Risk Management for Chemicals in Workplaces

On July 19, 2021, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) released a report after the 15th internal meeting (the final meeting) of the study group under the MHLW concerning the management of chemical substances in workplaces. The group meeting involved a wide range of actors including the government, industry, research institutes and academia, etc., which was held every three months on average starting from September 2019.

According to the report, the MHLW’s focus on chemical management will shift to businesses’ autonomous risk management. Currently, the MHLW is responsible for conducting risk assessment of high toxicity substances and imposing special regulatory measures on them based on the assessment results. The relevant regulations and rules include the Ordinance on Prevention of Hazards due to Specified Chemical Substances, Ordinance on Prevention of Organic Solvent Poisoning, Ordinance on Prevention of Lead Poisoning, Ordinance on Prevention of Hazards due to Dust, Ordinance on Prevention of Tetraalkyl Lead Poisoning, etc. In the future, the MHLW will establish some standards as benchmarks for chemical management, e.g., exposure limits for substances, and improve the current hazard communication system. Enterprises will conduct risk assessments based on such information and autonomously adopt control measures to prevent risks.

Although it remains unclear when the proposal will be implemented, the report suggests to have all the enterprises (including SMEs) adapting to the new regulatory system in 5 years. Once implemented, the MHLW will cease the current risk assessment work, and the substances still under assessment will be transferred to autonomous risk management. If all goes well, all the precautionary ordinances indicated above will be abolished 5 years later, leaving only some necessary provisions valid.

However, it should be noted that it only applies to the risk assessment of chemicals under the Industrial Safety and Health Law (ISHL), which has no impact on the risk assessment under the Chemical Substances Control Law (CSCL).