Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the number and proportion of target workplaces for work environment monitoring and evaluate the implementation rate of work environment monitoring. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor between March and May 2017 among 96,295 manufacturing businesses with more than five employees. The response rate was 17.8%. Estimates of the number and proportion of target workplaces for work environment monitoring were calculated as follows: number of workplaces where work environment monitoring was performed in 2016 + exposure rate based on the questionnaire * number of workplaces where work environment monitoring was not conducted. Results: Of the 150,655 total manufacturing businesses with more than five employees, 63,146 are estimated to be subject to work environment monitoring, which accounted for 41.9% of the workplaces. It is estimated that 73.3% of the target workplaces performed work environment monitoring. The number of workers exposed to hazardous substances is estimated to be about 0.7~1.2 million. Conclusions: Information on the distribution of workplaces subject to work environment monitoring and the rate of implementation can be used as baseline information for management and evaluation of the effectiveness of the work environment monitoring system.