Employees in Japan Die Due to Overwork

Darrel Harminson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:34:36 +0000

One of the Toyota’s senior car engineers died due to over work in Japan. The 45-year-old man, whose name was not mentioned, was developing a hybrid version of Toyota’s Camry at the time of his death in January 2006.

According to a Japanese labour bureau the employee regularly worked nights and weekends and was frequently sent abroad on business purposes. He is said to have died due to Ischemic heart disease.

According to his wife’s lawyers, the engineer averaged more than eighty hours of overtime per month in the two months prior to his death.

Workplace pressure or stress is common in each and every country but it is a major problem in Japan. Employees in Japan often work for very long hours. Many people succumb to overwork. Sudden death from overwork is referred to as Karoshi in Japan. This phenomenon was first recognized in 1987 in Japan.

Earlier in 2002, a 30-year-old Toyota employee collapsed at work and died. This is a common phenomenon in Japan, quite opposite to few other countries where people are too lazy to work.

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Employees in Japan Die Due to Overwork