Wife of a Worker Who Died of Heart Attack at Fukushima I Nuke Plant Wants His Death Recognized as Industrial Accident

Remember the worker at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant who collapsed on the second day on the job and died on May 14, without any treatment for nearly 3 hours because 1) there was no doctor at Fukushima I Nuke Plant; 2) no ambulance would come to the plant so TEPCO drove him to J-Village which is 20 kilometers away; 3) there was nothing they could do at J-Village so finally they put him on an ambulance to a hospital in Iwaki City, 48 kilometers from the plant and 28 kilometers from J-Village?

And his death was due to a heart attack, we were later told.

The following is my liberal redaction mixed with my observation of the Mainichi Shinbun Japanese article (7/12/2011). If you read Japanese, go read it. I just cannot do the literal translation, as it is too painful.

Well, the worker was Mr. Nobukatsu Osumi, 60 years old at the time of his death, of Omaezaki City in Shizuoka Prefecture. He had worked in various nuclear power plants as a plumber. He was hired by a subcontractor 4th-degree removed from the original contractor to work at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant as a temporary worker.

He was one of those nameless workers who support the operation of nuclear plants in Japan, moving from plant to plant and doing necessary maintenance and repair work. They used to be called "Genpatsu (nuke plant) Gypsy" in Japan. More recently, they were called "Fukushima 50".

On the first day of his work on May 13, his shift was from 6AM to 9AM. His job was to work on the pipe installation in the Central Waste Processing Facility (where the contaminated water treatment system was being set up). On the second day on May 14, he collapsed as he was carrying a special cutting tool with a colleague, and never regained consciousness.

As I said, there was no doctor on site, and there was no ambulance that would come. The hospitals in the area nearby had been evacuated or abandoned.

Since he died of an illness, not an injury, neither TEPCO nor Toshiba, the original contractor whose 4th-degree subcontractor hired Mr. Osumi, has paid any compensation to his widow, 53-year-old wife from Thailand.

And it is the wife, with the help of an attorney, who has filed for the worker's compensation claiming her husband's death was due to the excessively heavy workload in a very short time period and should be recognized as "industrial accident".

She says her husband did not have any particular health problem. When she saw her husband's body at the morgue at the Fukushima police station, both his ears were in deep purple color, and there were cuts on the face and the chin. But it was determined that the cause of death was illness, and there was no compensation. TEPCO says there's not much connection between the nature of the work and his death. Toshiba says there's not enough information to link the work condition with his death.

TEPCO says his radiation exposure was low, at 0.68 millisievert. 0.68 millisievert in less than 3 days is LOW? Since he had worked at other nuclear power plants over the years, his accumulated radiation exposure may have been significant.

The last conversation they had was on the night Mr. Osumi arrived at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. Mr. Osumi told his wife that he would work for 2 more years, then they would go to Thailand and become farmers, as his wife does not read or write Japanese well.

The wife feels tormented for having sent her husband off to a place she didn't know was dangerous. She still works as a part-time worker at a bento (lunch box) factory from 5AM to 7PM, sometimes to 10PM, and earns 130,000 yen (about US$1,600) per month. She says she doesn't even know how to go to places without her husband. She still lives in an apartment she shared with her husband, but now when she comes home there is no one who would cheerfully greet her.

Not a cent for a lowly worker who worked and died at Fukushima I, but the ex-president of TEPCO can get $6 million upon retirement, or so it is rumored.

Not a very proud moment to be a Japanese.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: TEPCO Cannot Confirm Identities of 37 Workers

TEPCO was so desperate to recruit workers for Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant that it hired people who didn't even "exist". Or rather, workers used pseudonyms at Fukushima I so that they could keep working at other nuke plants later without the radiation limit restricting them from working elsewhere.

Mainichi Shinbun Japanese (6/24/2011) reports that 37 of 69 workers whom TEPCO cannot trace after they stopped working at the plant used bogus names.

東京電力は２４日、福島第１原発で３月に作業に従事し、内部被ばく線量が未測定のまま連絡の取れない６９人のうち、実在するかどうかが確認できない作業員が３７人に上ると発表した。

TEPCO haven't been able to contact 69 workers who worked at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in March and whose internal radiation levels haven't been measured. On June 24, the company announced that 37 workers out of 69 cannot be confirmed even to exist.

　東電の松本純一原子力・立地本部長代理は「（被ばく線量が増え、作業に従事できなくなるのを防ぐため）別の名前を使った可能性が否定できない」としている。

TEPCO's Junichi Matsumoto said, "We can't rule out the possibility that those workers used pseudonyms to hide the level of radiation exposure so that they could work at other nuclear power plants [after their work at Fukushima I]."

　３７人はいずれも協力企業の社員などとして登録していたが、東電が各社に照会しても存在が確認できなかった。

All 37 workers were registered as employees of TEPCO affiliate companies. But TEPCO couldn't confirm that the workers existed when the company contacted its affiliate companies.

TEPCO's affiliate companies include large manufacturers like Toshiba, Hitachi and Kandenko. They each hire subcontractors, who then hire their own subcontractors, all the way down to at least 5, 6 layers. At the bottom of the subcontracting pyramid, they are often one-man operations that find willing workers, even from far-away places like Okinawa (video is in Japanese), where there is no nuke plant.

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Case of Disappearing Articles: #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Workers' Harsh Conditions

Something strange is going on in some of the Japanese news media. The Kyodo News English article about the harsh work conditions for the workers at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant which I link below was reported in other papers in Japanese, but in some papers the article got shorter and shorter as they updated.

I first read the article in Japanese at Yomiuri. It was a two-webpage article. But then, it was trimmed down to only a few sentences, and that's how it is now. But I have located part of the original long article cut and pasted by people who post on the Japanese message boards.

What's going on here? Anything that throws negative light on TEPCO is banned in Japanese? I can't find this news in Kyodo News Japanese site, either.

It is about how the workers at Fukushima I Nuke Plant have had to endure harsh work conditions where they have to sleep on the corridors, incredibly small amount of food and water to subsist, no underwear to change, no shower. And only 2 meals a day, one 1.5 liter bottle of water, which now they can ask for one more.

From Kyodo News English (emphasis added; 3/29/2011):

FOCUS: Courageous workers at troubled nuclear plant endure tough conditions

Each of the employees of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and other workers engaged in containing damage at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is given 30 survival food crackers and a 180 milliliter pack of vegetable juice for breakfast after getting up just before 6 a.m.

Around 400 workers including subcontractors are working there and are given just two meals per day, according to Kazuma Yokota, an official of the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Yokota stayed at the nuclear power plant damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami for five days through March 26 to check on progress in the ongoing operations.

After breakfast, the workers move on to their respective assignments at various locations within the plant at the center of the worst nuclear crisis in Japan. The workers are given no lunch.

Until March 22, they were given only one 1.5 liter bottle of mineral water per day. From March 23, however, with more supplies having arrived, they can ask for one more bottle, according to the official.

As the sun starts to set at around 5 p.m., they come back to the building where they are lodging within the plant's premises. The workers look worn out, according to Yokota.

Supper is also survival food item -- dried rice and only one can of chicken or fish for each person. Boiled mineral water is put into the pack of ''Magic Rice,'' making it ready for consumption in about 15 minutes. The workers eat their meals quietly, though some say they want something a little better.

At 8 p.m., the workers have a meeting and report to each other about any progress made in their work. At the end of the meeting, before everyone realizes it, it has become a practice for them to clap their hands together at the call of an officer. It is then followed by a chant from others, ''Gambaro!'' (Let's keep it up!).

The radiation level within the building is 2-3 microsievert per hour. They sleep in conference rooms and hallways in the building. To shield them from radiation from the floor, they cover themselves with lead-containing sheets before they put on blankets.

Most workers are replaced by others in one week. Mobile phones cannot be used as no signals reach there. ''The workers are doing their best while they cannot even contact their family members,'' Yokota said.

Yomiuri Shinbun's article, now reduced to only 4 sentences, still reports that the workers are given one blanket each.

Now, where is the Kamikaze spirit? Where's Yamato Damashii? These people are risking their lives to save the reactors from blowing up or severely contaminating the soil, air, and ocean and endangering more lives and life-forms. No one brave enough to deliver tons of water and food and all the blanket that they could ever wish for?

Not just from a moral standpoint, but from a utilitarian standpoint, it makes the most sense for someone to do so. TEPCO, the SDF, the Police, or Yakuza, I don't care. Why? It is in everyone's interest - political, economic, social, environmental - to keep these workers well fed, well watered, and well rested so that they work better, are more alert, and have more energy so that they can carry out the impossible tasks.

Duh.

It is so "Japan during the World War II", where the citizens were expected to fight on with hardly anything to eat, hardly any fuel to run anything, and hardly any sleep.

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#Fukushima Fifty: Myth and Reality

For myths of so-called "Fukushima 50", you can read a whole bunch of UK and US sites, the latest being UK's Telegraph piece here. Or NY Times article from March 15, here.

"Fukushima 50", nameless, dedicated soldiers with the burning sense of mission to save the plant.

And here's part of the reality:

Here's an ad (in Japanese) for 1 temporary worker to work at Fukushima I and II Nuclear Power Plant. It was placed by a small construction company with 10 employees in Minami-Soma City, about 15 miles north of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, on February 3 this year. The ad will be effective until April 30. The ad has been circulating via the net in Japan since the Reactor 1 blew up.

Job description and compensation information from the ad:

• 1 temporary worker wanted for Fukushima I and II Nuclear Power Plant

• Job description: to carry out regular maintenance, machinery, electrical, welding and blacksmithing and scaffolding at the nuclear plants
  

• Daily pay: 9,000 yen to 11,000 yen (US$110 to $135)

• Monthly average pay: 189,000 yen to 231,000 yen (US$2,317 to $2,831) [21 to 25 days per month]

• Set benefits: None

• Bonus: 8,000 yen (US$98) for not missing a work in a month.

• Age: any age

• Education level: any
  

• Qualification: none

• Skills, experience: none needed

• Duration: more than 4 months, or 12-month contract

• Work hours: 8AM to 5PM

• Day off: Sat, Sun, holidays; 1 day every week; total days off per year 113 days

• Employer name: Takayama Sogyo

• Employer's business: facility construction and maintenance at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants, and general construction and maintenance, contract farming

Would you like to risk your life with radiation for $110 a day? Well there are people who would be desperate for a job, any job, even a dangerous one like cleaning and inspecting the reactor core during the regular maintenance.

My guess is that this subcontractor gets money from Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), keep a good chunk of it as the "management" fee.

Takayama Sogyo is also hiring three welders/blacksmiths as regular employees with some benefits and higher daily wages (14,000 yen to 15,000 yen per day), because the company does require "experience" in working in a nuclear power plant, but also says "applicants with no prior experience in nuclear power plants are also considered, case by case".

In case no one with an experience applies for the job, I suppose.

It's no secret in Japan that TEPCO uses, just like any other power companies, numerous subcontractors who in turn use even greater number of subcontractors for dangerous works at nuclear power plants. There has been a quiet whispers from the beginning of this crisis that the workers that TEPCO uses at the plant are from the subcontractors near the bottom of the pyramid who really have no choice but send in workers, whether their own or temps in order to secure future business.

Read my previous post on "Genpatsu (Nuclear Power Plant) Gypsy" - the article that was yanked from Chunichi Shinbun.

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Disappeared Article from Chunichi Shinbun - Truth of "Fukushima 50" May Not Be As Pretty

The article is supposed to be about angry subcontractors of TEPCO, which I saw the brief description at Kyodo News Japanese. But the link no longer works, and the message at Chunichi Shinbun says "No such article".

Well, Google Cache to the rescue...

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3Iqwqk-sSMIJ:www.chunichi.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2011032602000019.html+http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/national/news/CK2011032602000019.html&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

Here's the original Japanese (my English translation below):

ずさん管理「まさか」　作業員、東電に憤り

2011年3月26日 朝刊 （中日新聞）

　福島第１原発３号機で復旧工事の作業員３人が被ばくし、東京電力の下請け会社の作業員からは「なぜちゃんと安全を確認しない」と東電の安全管理体制を批判する声が上がった。仕事をもらう立場として「上から言われればやむを得ない」とあきらめの言葉も出る。

　「東電が大丈夫と言ったんだろう」。１号機で配管の下請け工事をした男性（３７）は怒りを隠さない。３号機のタービン建屋地下の床には、高濃度の 放射能に汚染された水がたまっていることが判明。男性は元請け企業の担当者から「いずれ復旧工事があるから、準備しておくように」と言われたが「こんなん じゃ、いくら金を積まれてもやりたくない」と憤る。

　震災当時、５号機の原子炉建屋近くにいた男性作業員（６２）は「まさか事前の現場チェックをしていなかったなんて」と驚く。

　「マル特」と呼ばれ、放射線レベルが高い原子炉格納容器近くで作業をすることもあったが、フィルター付きのマスク、防護服などを必ず着用した。

　「暑いし、大変だったが、それだけ東電は放射線管理をしっかりやっていたはず」と言う。別の配管工事の男性（５１）は「未曽有の事故で情報が混乱したため、注意が足らなかったのではないか」と推測する。

　被ばくした３人のうち、１人は作業を請け負った関電工のさらに下請け会社の社員。電力会社を頂点とする原発ピラミッドでは、さらに底辺にいる下請けが危険な仕事を任されるとの見方は根強い。彼らは「原発ジプシー」と呼ばれ、定期検査ごとに全国各地の原発を渡り歩く。

　その１人で、２５年近く働いた男性（７４）は「原子炉内のように放射線量が多いところでは、線量計を外して仕事をした。上に『できません』と言いたくないから」と話す。「危険な目には何度も遭ったけれど、けががばれたら仕事が回らなくなる」とも。

　「原発から仕事をもらって恩がある」と話すのは福島第１原発で塗装業者として働く地元、福島県双葉町の男性（６１）。「みんな覚悟ができている。そうじゃないと生活できない」と、被ばくの不安を打ち消すように言った。

And here's my quick and dirty translation. Not very hard to figure out why the article may have been pulled, and not hard to figure out who ordered it:

Subcon Workers Angry at Lax Safety Management at TEPCO, "Wouldn't have guessed they are this bad"

(3/26/2011 Morning edition)

After three workers were exposed to high radiation as they were carrying out the repair work in the Reactor No.3 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, workers at Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)'s subcontractors are highly critical of TEPCO's safety management which failed to ascertain safety for the workers. Some workers are resigned to their status as subcontractors relying on TEPCO work, saying "There's nothing we can do, we have to do what we're told to do."

One worker (age 37) who laid pipes for the Reactor No.1 is visibly angry, and he thinks TEPCO probably assured the workers it was safe [to work in the Reactor 3 building]. He also says the contractor [who would subcontract his company] has told him [or his company] to be ready to deploy for repair work, but he wouldn't want to do it no matter how much money is offered.

One worker (age 62) who happened to be near the Reactor 5 building when the earthquake struck is surprised that there was no pre-work safety check.

He says when he had to work in the high radiation area near the Containment Vessels he always wore masks with filter, and protective clothes. "It was hot and cumbersome to be dressed like that. I thought TEPCO did the radiation safety management well." Another worker (age 51) who is in the business of laying pipes is a little more sympathetic. He suspects that the information got mixed up in this unprecedented accident, and they didn't pay enough attention.

One of the three workers who were exposed to high radiation was from a subcontractor of the subcontractor Kandenko, who got the job from TEPCO. There's a strong belief that, in the "Nuclear Power Pyramid" with electric power companies at the top, subcontractors near or at the bottom of the pyramid will be asked to do the dangerous work. The workers at these bottom-of-the-pyramid subcontractors are called "Nuclear Power Plant (Genpatsu) Gypsies", as they go from one nuclear plant to another whenever the regular inspection of a plant comes up.

A 74-year-old man worked for nearly 25 years as one of such "Gypsies". He says "I worked without a geiger counter in the area with high radiation near the reactor containment vessels. I didn't want to say no to the management. I got injured many times, but [I hid it because] I wouldn't get a job if they knew I was injured."

"We owe our job to the Nuke Plant," says a man (age 61), whose company contracts painting jobs from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. His company is a local company, in Futaba-cho in Fukushima Prefecture. "We're all prepared for the worst. Otherwise we cannot carry on with our lives," he says, as if to dispel the fear of radiation exposure.

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