Welcome to NIIH home page

Shunichi Araki, MD, DrMSc, MSc
President

Welcome to the Home Page of the National Institute of Industrial Health, Japan. The National Institute of Industrial Health started in 1949 as the Silicosis Laboratory in the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Ministry of Labour, Japan. In 1959, according to the Ministry of Labour Organization Act, the former National Institute of Industrial Health was founded in Kawasaki city. In 1976, The 63rd Parliament of Japan passed the Amendment to the Ministry of Labour Organization Act to promote an advanced research on industrial health, establishing the new National Institute of Industrial Health in the present place. In January 2001, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Health and Welfare were integrated into the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; in April of the same year, the Institute became the Independent Administrative Institution according to the re-organization of central government and national institutes (Independent Administrative Institutions Act 1999).

The National Institute of Industrial Health has the following three functions: (1) To provide the newly re-organized Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare with scientific and technical support on occupational health administration, (2) To conduct original research on occupational health, and (3) To meet the needs of national and international scientific communities and the Japanese society based on the man power, facilities and achievements of the Institute. The Institute comprises six departments, i.e., (1) Research planning, administration and informatics, (2) Health administration, work physiology and psychosocial factors, (3) Mechanism of health effects of occupational factors, (4) Hazard evaluation, field study and epidemiology, (5) Measurement and assessment of work environment, and (6) Ergonomics and occupational health engineering.

Currently, the Institute has 80 staff, i.e., President, Executive Director, 2 Part-time Auditors, 16 Administrative staff, and 60 Research staff. The budget for the 2001st fiscal year is 1.7 billion yen (approximately 14 million dollars). Research staff of the Institute is continuously serving the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, other Ministries, and public organizations as members of the scientific and technical committees for promotion of occupational health administration. The Institute is publishing an international journal, "Industrial Health", for these 39 years (4 issues per year) as well as Annual Report, Newsletters (2 issues per year) and Home Page (this issue). It is running the National Conference on the Promotion of Occupational Health Priority Research.

The following 13 special research projects have been carried out in the Institute:

(1) Methodology for assessment of health effects of endocrine disruptors and industrial chemicals with the aid of gene technology, (2) Comfortable sleep of workers, (3) Intra-cellular effects of superoxides due to combined exposure to ultraviolet radiation and other environmental factors, (4) Health effects of halogenated propanes (i.e., alternative chemicals to chlorofluorocarbons), (5) Mental and physical health indicators for control of work stress, (6) Sick house syndrome at work, (7) Health effects of dioxins in work environment, (8) Analysis and health effects of metal aerosols (functional materials), (9) Analysis of dioxins at work (special project), (10) Ergonomic requirements for introduction of information technology into workplace, (11) Analysis and monitoring of national records on occupational diseases, (12) Measurement and control of organic solvents in short-term and intermittent occupational exposure, and (13) Effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals on reproductive system and next generation.

Finally, the National Institute of Industrial Health is promoting international collaborative studies on occupational health. We are waiting for communication from overseas colleagues who are interested in the activities of the Institute.