栃木県で小学生6人がクレーン車にはねられて死亡すると云う痛ましい事故が起きた。しかも集団登校の列の中にノーブレーキでクレーン車が突っ込んだものらしい。

　その後の報道によると、この事故を起こした２６歳の運転手は、以前にも登校中の子供を跳ねる人身事故を起こし、未だ執行猶予中の身であったとか。

　この事件、今後如何なる処分、如何なる賠償になるかは判らないが、多分これがアメリカで起きた事件であれば、運転手はもちろんであるが、会社は２度と立ち上がれない程の処分、賠償金を支払う事となった事でしょう。

　何故なら、会社は運転手を雇うに際し、詳細な採用調査を行い、運転履歴を調べ、その上で採否を判断するシステムが確立されており、採用前調査を実施せずに運転手を雇い、この様な事故を起こし、しかもこの運転手に過去同様の事故歴があったとすると、会社は全面的に使用者責任を問われ、責任を取らされるからです。

　ところがあにはからんや。日本は、採用前調査は個人情報保護と差別につながる、等を理由に、採用調査を否定し、厚生労働省は雇用者に徹底して採用調査をしないよう行政指導している。

　偉そうに云う訳ではないが、この会社が弊社（企業サービス）に採用調査を依頼していたら、多分６人の小学生は、今日も明るく賑やかに友達と一緒に登校していた事でしょう。

　これくらいの調査、幾ら個人情報ｊ保護の壁が厚くても、弊社の調査員に取っては朝飯前のこと・・・？。　考えれば考えるほど、訳の判らない行政指導に腹が立つ。

　風が吹けば桶屋が儲かる、程の回りくどさで無く、端的に云ってこの事故の責任の一端は厚生労働省にあると思う。会社はペーパー試験と面接だけで運転手の資質や病歴など判る筈がない。ところが調査をすると行政からお目玉をくらうから雇用調査をすることが出来ない。

　マスコミもこの事を知ってか知らずか、運転手の氏名、年齢、履歴などを詳細に報じているが、会社の名前は余り表に出さない。いったいこれって何・・・？。過去に同様の事故を起し執行猶予中の身にある社員を、何の調査もせず採用し、結果６人の小学生が死んだのである。

”責任者出て来い”　（ちょっと古いか・・・）

　国も会社もほうかぶりし、運転手個人に全て責任を被せようとすのかも知れないが、この事故は事件であり、自然災害とは全く違う。日本の人権施策がもたらした事件であり、亡くなった６人の子供は厚生労働省の行政指導に基ずく犠牲者と言えなくも無い。

A tragic accident occurred in Tochigi Prefecture in which six elementary school students were killed after being hit by a crane. What’s more, it seems that a crane truck rammed into the line of students at the school without braking.

According to subsequent reports, the 26-year-old driver who caused the accident was still on probation for having previously caused a personal injury accident in which he jumped a child on his way to school.

I don’t know what kind of punishment and compensation will be paid in the future, but if this had happened in the United States, the driver and the company would have had to pay compensation to the extent that they can never stand up again.

This is because the company has established a system to conduct a detailed hiring survey, examine the driver’s driving history, and make a decision on whether or not to hire a driver based on this system. If a driver is hired without conducting a pre-employment survey and an accident like this occurs and the driver has a similar history of accidents in the past, the company will be held fully responsible for the employer.

However, it’s not easy. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has given administrative guidance to employers not to conduct thorough hiring surveys, on the grounds that pre-hiring surveys lead to the protection of personal information and discrimination.

I don’t mean to imply anything, but if this company had asked us (Corporate Services) to do a job search, I’m sure six elementary school students would have gone to school today with their friends in a cheerful mood.

This kind of investigation, no matter how thick the wall of personal information protection is, is a piece of cake for our investigators…?　The more I think about it, the more I am annoyed by the incomprehensible administrative guidance.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is partly to blame for this accident. It is impossible for a company to know a driver’s qualifications and medical history only from a paper test and an interview. However, we can’t conduct an employment survey because the government would have a lot of fun if we did.

The media, whether they know it or not, has reported the driver’s name, age, and history in detail, but the name of the company has not been disclosed. What on earth is this…? They hired an employee who was on probation for a similar accident in the past without any investigation, resulting in the deaths of six elementary school students.

“Come on out in charge.” (It’s a little old…)

Both the government and the company may be trying to put all the blame on the individual driver, but this accident was an incident and not a natural disaster at all. It is not difficult to say that the six children who died were victims of the administrative guidance of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

春日和。この陽気を東北に届けたい・・・。

折角自然が恵んでくれるこの陽気、無駄にしてはいけない、室内作業を早々に切り上げて戸外へ・・・。
イヤでもそんな気にさせられる今日の陽気である。

先ほどお昼のニュースを聞いていたら、造幣局の通り抜けが始まったのを報じていた。やはりこれに参加せぬ訳には行くまい・
・・と云う訳で、ブログを書く時間が なくなった。

Spring day. I want to send this cheerfulness to Tohoku….

We can’t waste the sunshine that nature has blessed us with, so we quickly cut the indoor work and went outdoors…
Today’s cheerfulness makes me feel like that even if I don’t like it.

I was listening to the news at noon the other day, and they were reporting that the Mint had begun to go through. I’ll be damned if I won’t take part in this.
…and that’s why I don’t have time to write a blog.

自然と云うのはスゴイ！、ただただ驚くばかりである。あれ程の地震と津波を起こし、人間にこれでもかと云う災難を与えながら、なにくわぬ顔で春を呼び寄せ、何時もと同じく桜を咲かせる。

何時もだとこの時期、マスコミは日本各地の桜を追い、朝のひと時を楽しませてくれていた。朝テレビをつけて、何となく気分が晴れるのは、唯一この時期。その他は、事件や事故など気分が滅入るマイナスイメージのものが大半であるが、今年は震災と原発で、桜のニュースなど皆無・・・。

そんな事もあって、桜の事など頭からすっかり消えていた。ところが、「アレッ桜が咲いている、何時の間に？」と思ったのが先週末で、早や今週末は一番の見ごろ。

そこで、今日のポカポカ陽気に誘われ、、自転車で大河端へ。大川端は淀屋橋から毛馬橋の間、片道約４キロ弱が桜並木。

It’s amazing what nature can do! I am simply amazed. Despite causing such an earthquake and tsunami, and inflicting such a disaster on human beings, they calmly invite spring and make the cherry blossoms bloom as usual.

Normally at this time of the year, the mass media was enjoying their morning time following the cherry blossoms in various parts of Japan. This is the only time of year when I can turn on the TV in the morning and somehow feel better. Other than that, there are mostly negative images such as incidents and accidents that make me feel depressed, but this year, with the earthquake and the nuclear power plant, there is no news of cherry blossoms…

Because of this, the cherry blossoms had completely disappeared from my mind. However, “The cherry blossoms are in bloom, what time is it? It was last weekend and this weekend is the best time to see it.

So, I went to Okawabata by bicycle with today’s sunny weather. Okawabata, between Yodoyabashi and Kombabashi, is lined with cherry blossom trees for about 4 km one way.