Japan to Survey Safety Management at Sauna Facilities

Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s health ministry has asked local governments across the country to survey safety management at sauna facilities following a fatal accident in Tokyo last December, Jiji Press learned Saturday. In a notice dated Wednesday, the ministry requested that a total of 157 prefectural governments and municipalities with public health centers report survey results by the end of this month. Based on the results, the ministry plans to consider revising relevant national guidelines. The nationwide survey will check the number of facilities with sauna equipment, the presence of emergency buzzers, how emergency liaison systems work, and the types of sauna doors, according to the ministry. On Dec. 15, a couple died in a fire at a sauna facility with private rooms in Tokyo’s Akasaka district. The two–Masanari Matsuda, a 36-year-old beauty salon owner, and his wife, Yoko, a 37-year-old nail technician–are believed to have been trapped in the sauna due to a broken doorknob. The emergency button in the sauna also appeared to be offline. Tokyo’s Metropolitan Police Department has searched locations linked to the sauna facility’s operator, Sauna & Co., on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. Meanwhile, the local public health center in the capital’s Minato Ward conducted an on-site inspection of the sauna facility on Jan. 5. The center has also inspected about 40 other private-room sauna facilities in the ward. It plans to consider an ordinance revision to require the installation of emergency buttons. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]