Toshiba says subcontractor illegally hired 8 teens under 18 to inspect nuclear plants

Wednesday 04th June, 03:28 PM JST

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NuckinFutz at 09:25 PM JST - 4th June

What great news! And I live within 30km of the Rokkasho Nuclear "waste dump" facility! I'm forwarding this to the IAEA personally!
WhiteHawk at 10:06 PM JST - 4th June

Notginger:

Why would teenagers fake id to get a job inspecting nuclear power plants? What a bizarre aspiration.

The money's probably better than working at a bento factory.
LikingJapan at 10:34 PM JST - 4th June

Sensation Journalism at its best I'm sure.

The article says that it is a subcontractor that is involved. If the individuals are under 18 then they dropped out of High School and likely work in construction setting up and tearing down scaffolding. Many of the real inspectors are American and EU contractors. The odd part of the story revolves around the age of 18. Since school is only compulsory up to age 15 and the legal age to vote is 20. This just means that somewhere there is a small legislation that very few are aware of. It is likely that these kids don't set foot inside any main buildings.
conqueror_of_Uranus at 10:38 PM JST - 4th June

The real inspectors are usually German or Swiss.

These teenagers (as the article states, were from a sub-contractor) were probably in charge of manning boom-lifts and building scaffolding for the inspections to take place.

The big deal seems to be the law banning people under 18 years of age from working in potentialy radioactive environments, rather than unqualified inspectors.
gogogo at 10:53 PM JST - 4th June

This is the fault of toshiba not the subcontractor, Toshiba should be punished.
ninjaboy at 11:20 PM JST - 4th June

Quote: "The Labor Standards Law bans an employer from hiring workers aged below 18 to work in a place that exposes them to radiation." So, its OK to be exposed to radiation if you're over 18? Oh.., wait, yeah, sorry, I forgot. This is Japan!
usaexpat at 11:40 PM JST - 4th June

A little scary I must say, what exactly were their qualifications? I worked at a factory in the States when I was 17 which is also illegal but my job was definitely not anywhere near as critical as a nuclear inspector. These laws are usually in place in regards to exposure to toxic substances or injury from machinery but again my main concern is that there is no way these 17 year olds were qualified. As for questioning why these folks would want the jobs I assume it's because the pay was better than working at the Family Mart.
medievaltimes at 11:47 PM JST - 4th June

And where is the public outcry over this????
thepro at 12:14 AM JST - 5th June

Dude, where's my isotope?
KitsuneYoukai at 01:16 AM JST - 5th June

It sounds like the contractors who did the hiring were the ones who forged the documents not the children. I'd say that they had no one interested in the job or they paid the kids less than is normal. Still, it is a shame but I doubt this is a one time incident in Japan or anywhere. The reality is it is almost by chance or by someone reporting it that these things come to light and are investigated.
Hawkeye at 01:58 AM JST - 5th June

Why would a company try something so foolish as to use underage workers for such a high profile job as inspection at a Nuclear power facility? It is scary that Japanese nuclear facilities have such poor inspection of back ground checks on the people who can enter restricted space. Japanese should not ever complain about US nuclear powered ships being a hazard when they don't control their own nuclear facilities properly.
Spidey at 10:17 AM JST - 5th June

D'oh!!
bushlover at 12:04 PM JST - 5th June

But what were they hired to 'inspect'? Vending machines in the facility?
Hughgarse at 01:54 PM JST - 5th June

what is an 18year old going to inspect?
romulus3 at 11:07 AM JST - 10th June

its not much better than dressing up a few monkeys