Toyota Manager Suffers Death from Overworking: Hybrid Car Developer
By Christi Hall
Jul 14, 2008
Ever feel like you have been worked to death? The Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours. The nation is famous for its hard workers that put in extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm, reports the Associated Press.
Toyota Manager Suffers Death from Overworking: Hybrid Car Developer
The man was but 45 years old and was in charge of designing Toyota's blockbuster Camry line of Hybrid vehicles. According to the report from the Associated press, in the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month.
***
The report notes that the man worked night and weekends and traveled constantly abroad. The man died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006 and the ruling that he was actually died from overworking will allow his family to collect benefits from insurance from his work.
In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.