Friday, May 15, 2026 : Clinic, Committee, Then Cafe Break
© 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)
Today was outpatient clinic in the morning, then patients until 3 PM, and then on to my occupational physician duties for the safety and health committee.
At the safety and health committee, I talked about heatstroke prevention and customer harassment countermeasures.
Kyoto is already seeing days around 30 degrees Celsius, and the forecast for early next week is up to 36 degrees.
So I said we need to check the flow early, who to report to when they feel unwell and how to step away from work.
And that goes for the back of house, the receiving area, the kitchens, and event work.
The kitchen carries the most risk, because humidity and radiant heat come on top of the air temperature, so I said a WBGT meter should go in there.
I also went through the thresholds. Below WBGT 21, you still need to keep drinking water.
28 and above is severe warning, and 31 and above is the danger zone.
That is the level where you consider changing the work itself, adding breaks, rotating staff, and in some cases stopping work.
For customer harassment, the starting point is that customer-facing work is emotional labor.
Verbal abuse, intimidating behavior, being held for long stretches, excessive demands, hinting at a post on social media.
I said these are safety and health problems, because they lead to mental health trouble and to people leaving the job.
From October 1, 2026, the revised Labor Measures Comprehensive Promotion Act makes customer harassment measures a legal duty for employers.
So I told them a stated company policy is not enough on its own.
Who staff turn to on the floor, at what point it goes up to the store manager or head office, how the record is kept,
and a setup that does not leave one employee dealing with it alone, all of that needs to be in place early.
I also brought up the measles outbreak.
Routine measles vaccination in Japan began in October 1978.
Because of how the system worked before that, and how many doses each group received, immunity varies a lot from one generation to the next.
People born between October 1, 1972 and April 1, 1990 are the single-dose generation, and their antibody levels have likely fallen.
So I asked them to check their maternal and child health handbook and to get an antibody test,
and, if it turns out they need it, to consider another dose of the MR vaccine.
After the committee, I had a return-to-work interview online with an employee on leave of absence.
There was nothing of concern, and I judged that a return to work would be fine.
With the interview done, it finally felt like the weekend!
I took a break at a cafe on Gokomachi Street and came back home.