Occupational hygiene

Research and practical activities on ensuring the health and safety of workers. In industrial activities that produce the goods necessary for human life, people are engaged in various tasks as workers, but the tasks can cause injuries and illnesses for workers. For example, amputation of fingers caused by presses, pneumoconiosis in coal miners, acute and chronic poisoning from heavy metals and organic solvents, musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain, brain and heart diseases caused by long working hours (so-called death from overwork), and stress-related mental disorders such as depression. These are called occupational diseases or work-related diseases, and occupational hygiene was born to prevent them, and has evolved in accordance with the stage of industrial development in each country and region.

Occupational hygiene requires knowledge of physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, psychology, engineering, and even social science, and has a strong character as an integrated science. For this reason, industrial health, industrial medicine, industrial hygiene, and occupational health are considered to be almost synonymous, but occupational hygiene is often used in administrative situations, industrial health in practical situations (industrial health staff, etc.), industrial medicine in research and practical situations with a strong medical aspect (industrial medicine research, etc.), industrial hygiene in academic organizations (Japan Society for Occupational Health, etc.), and occupational health in the translation of occupational health. Similar terms used in research and practice of health and safety for specific subjects, such as industrial health, include school health, maternal and child health, and elderly health.

[Toru Yoshikawa]

"Toyohiko Miura, Labor Science Series 88: History of Labor and Health, Vol. 6" (1990, Institute of Labor Science Publishing Division) " "The History and Current Status of Occupational Health Measures, compiled and published by the Health, Labor and Welfare Statistics Association" (included in "National Health Trends 2012/2013", 2012)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

労働者の健康と安全の確保に関する研究および実践活動。人間が生活に必要な諸財貨を生産する産業活動において、人々は労働者としてさまざまな労働に従事するが、その労働が原因となって労働者に外傷や疾病を生じることがある。たとえば、プレス機による手指切断、炭坑労働者の塵肺(じんぱい)、重金属や有機溶剤による急性・慢性中毒、腰痛などの筋骨格系障害、長時間労働による脳・心臓疾患（いわゆる過労死）、うつ病などのストレス関連性精神疾患等である。これらは職業病、作業関連性疾病とよばれ、その予防のため労働衛生学が生まれ、各国・地域の産業発達の段階に応じて深化してきた。

　労働衛生学には物理学、化学、生理学、医学、心理学、工学、さらには社会科学の見識も必要とされ、総合科学としての色彩を強くもつ。そのため、産業保健、産業医学、産業衛生、職業保健などはほぼ同義語とされるが、労働衛生は行政的な場面、産業保健は実務的な場面（産業保健スタッフ等）、産業医学は医学的側面が強い研究や実務の場面（産業医学研究等）、産業衛生は学術団体（日本産業衛生学会等）、職業保健はoccupational healthの翻訳の場面等で用いられることが多い。なお、産業保健のように対象者別の健康・安全の研究と実践に使われる同類の用語に、学校保健、母子保健、老人保健等がある。

［吉川　徹］

『三浦豊彦著『労働科学叢書88　労働と健康の歴史　第6巻』（1990・労働科学研究所出版部）』▽『厚生労働統計協会編・刊「労働衛生対策のあゆみと現状」（『国民衛生の動向　2012/2013』所収・2012）』

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例