The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has required businesses to take steps to prevent heatstroke among their employees. Businesses will face penalties for negligence.

The mandated measures include establishing a reporting system in case of heatstroke or someone at risk of heatstroke, establishing procedures to prevent the patient's condition from worsening, such as cooling the body when transporting the patient to a medical institution, and disseminating these measures to employees, etc.

The number of deaths and injuries from heatstroke in workplaces nationwide last year reached 1,257, the highest since the start of the statistics.