Health checkups at hiring and once a year; the duty extends to follow-up measures on the resultsCompanies are required to have their workers get health checkups

Under Article 66 of the Industrial Safety and Health Act, employers must have workers undergo medical checkups by a doctor. For workers used on a continuous basis, a checkup is required at hiring and then once within every year after that. Employers must also record the results, obtain a doctor's opinion, take follow-up measures and notify the worker.

Key points

• The checkup at hiring (Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health, Article 43) is given when a continuously used worker is hired
• The regular checkup (Article 44) is given to continuously used workers once within every year
• Workers in specified duties receive one when reassigned and once within every 6 months; workers dispatched overseas receive one when dispatched for 6 months or more, among other cases
• Results are recorded in an individual health checkup record. For workers with abnormal findings, the employer obtains a doctor's opinion and, where necessary, takes measures such as a change of duties or shorter working hours
• Employers who continuously use 50 or more workers must submit the regular checkup results to the head of the competent Labour Standards Inspection Office without delay

What to do in practice

• Put the timing of hiring checkups and annual checkups in your annual plan
• Set the procedure through to obtaining the doctor's opinion after the checkup and notifying the worker