ABSTRACT

Regardless of their ownership or scale of use, buildings are important components as social capital that supports the lives of people and industrial activity. In Japan, the Building Standard Law was enacted to safeguard the lives, health, and property of people by providing minimum standards concerning the site, construction, and use of buildings. Under the Building Standard Law, a strict regulation was designed to prevent construction without permission (i.e., building certification) following an onsite inspection by the building official of the local government or the designated institute. Furthermore, in accordance with an amendment of the Buildings Standards Law (addition of Article 28:2: “Sanitary measures to prevent adverse effects of chemical substance emissions in habitable rooms” and promulgation of related governmental ordinances and notices), beginning July 2003 use of building materials that contain chlorpyrifos has been forbidden, while the use of building materials containing formaldehyde has been restricted. Moreover, it became mandatory to install ventilation equipment in all habitable rooms, in other words, in all building spaces that people constantly use or stay in.