20世纪30年代以来日本采矿社区的尘肺病

Pneumoconiosis in Japanese Mining Communities since the 1930s

尽管煤炭开采在日本极为重要,对矽肺作为一种职业病的历史性承认却发生在金属采矿中。在工业化早期,矿工们已经非常了解与粉尘相关的职业病;在日本的煤炭开采中,矽肺病和炭末沉着病(anthracosis)的知识首先由职业专家发展起来。由政府和该行业资助的国内研究和国际劳工组织制定的国际准则,其影响最终随着1955年对矽肺法的投票、1960年对尘肺病法的投票和因此产生的系统性筛查和补偿程序而结束。工会也在承认尘肺病为职业病的过程中发挥了作用,尤其是通过政治压力和签署尘肺病集体协议,但煤矿工人是社会地位很低的一个社会团体,在行业和国家强有力的专业知识面前处于极为不利的地位。实际上,因为筛查和补偿程序主要建立在专业知识的基础上,与工人的经历部分脱节,煤炭开采中的尘肺病往往很少记录下来。不过,随着责任法律诉讼在20世纪70年代的产生,矿工团体努力恢复他们赢得公正补偿的社会公民权。

Despite this importance of coal mining in Japan,the historical recognition process of silicosis as an occupational disease took place first in metal mining.Dust related occupational diseases had been very well known by miners from proto-industrial times;in Japanese coal mining,silicosis and anthracosis knowledge first developed in the hands of professional experts.Domestic research funded by the state and the industry and the influence of international norms set by the International Labor Organization finally ended in the vote of a Silicosis law in 1955,of a Pneumoconiosis law in1960,and consequently in the enacting of systematic screening and compensation procedures.Trade unions also played a role in the recognition process of pneumoconiosis as an occupational disease,particularly through political pressure and signing pneumoconiosis collective agreements,but coal miners constituted a very low status social group at great disadvantage in front of industry and state’s powerful professional expertise.Indeed,as screening and compensation procedures were mainly based on a professional knowledge partly disconnected from workers experiences,pneumoconiosis cases in coal mining tended to be very much under recorded.However,with liability legal suits taking place from the end of the 1970 s,miners groups tried to regain their social citizenship in winning fair compensation.