Workers involved in the initial disaster response came from a number of sources. The Japanese government and TEPCO only consider TEPCO employees and employees from TEPCO’s contractors to be officially “workers” during the disaster. Members of the Tokyo Fire Department and the Strategic Defense Forces were also on site responding to the disaster but do not appear in any of the official accounting of worker exposures, injuries or workers compensation programs.
A number of workers have died at the plant site or during their off hours in circumstances that some suspect may have been caused by their work.
Official radiation exposure levels where an illness is considered tied to the worker’s radiation exposure:
Leukemia
(recognized limit: over 5 millisieverts/year)
Malignant lymphoma
(recognized limit: over 25 mSv)
Multiple myeloma
(recognized limit: over 50 mSv)