An increasing number of elderly workers have been injured on the job at social welfare facilities, including nursing care facilities, which are suffering from a serious labor shortage. It is necessary not only to create an environment in which these employees can work safely but also to make efforts to secure a larger workforce.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, more than 10,000 workers at social welfare facilities, such as special nursing care facilities for the aged and nursery schools for preschool children, were injured in work-related accidents last year. Some cases were fatal. The total figure was up 5.2% from the previous year and nearly doubled from 10 years ago. As the number of deaths and injuries from work-related accidents across all industry categories dropped by 1.3%, the increase at social welfare facilities is all the more remarkable.
One out of three casualties was aged 60 or older. Many cases involved people suffering lower back pain due to unusual movements, such as carrying heavy objects, or being injured in falls.
Contributing factors appear to include an increase in the number of elderly workers, working environments in which safety is not fully taken into consideration, and excessive burdens imposed on workers. This year, staff members and others have been exhausted by taking strict measures to deal with the novel coronavirus. It is feared that the number of work-related accidents will further increase.
This spring, the government released guidelines and a checklist to create a safe workplace for elderly workers. The checklist covers 100 items, including the elimination of dark places and uneven floors, and the allocation of jobs suitable for an individual's physical ability through health checkups or physical fitness tests.
If an elderly employee is injured, he or she may not be able to work because it takes a long time to recover, in some cases. There is also the possibility of accidents involving residents at social welfare facilities. Operators of these facilities are urged to closely examine the equipment and the work content of employees and take necessary measures as soon as possible.
Nursing care sites are particularly affected by the aging of their staff. According to a survey conducted by the government last year, the proportion of staff under 30 years old at these facilities was less than 8%, while those 60 or older accounted for more than 20%.
Nursing care often involves hard work such as helping residents bathe and use the toilet. Some facilities are trying to reduce those burdens by using nursing care robots to help residents move from their beds or elsewhere, and also using more information and communication technology.
The government has provided subsidies to businesses that install such equipment. It needs to make the subsidy system well-known to encourage its widespread use. It is also important to give financial support to companies that develop technologies for that purpose.
With jobs decreasing in many types of business amid the coronavirus crisis, the ratio of job openings to job applicants in nursing care remains high at 3.8. In 2025, there is expected to be a shortage of 340,000 caregivers.
In some nursing care facilities, working conditions are not appropriate for employees' duties. There is a deep-rooted image of long working hours at nursing care facilities. It is necessary to make steady improvements, including the correction of a wage level for nursing care workers that is more than 80,000 yen below the monthly average for all industries.
It will be impossible to solve the labor shortage if operators of social welfare facilities simply rely on foreign workers and fail to secure safety and improve working conditions.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on Nov. 6, 2020.
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