Mental health of managers of small and medium enterprises as seen from the vewpoint of risk management

International audienceThe number of suicides per year has surpassed 30,000 over the past decade in Japan. Poormental health constitutes the main cause of suicides, which trigger remarkable social losses. This paper reviews measures in support of mental health from the viewpoint of risk management. It introduces a new aspect into the previous studies on mental health, which have focused on middle managers and employees but not dealt with managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises as employees. This paper presents the framework of ISO 3100, the international standards for risk management issued in November 2009, and a desirable arrangement for risk management in the future. Furthermore, it discusses the state of mental health of the selfemployed and managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises after suffering losses from disaster. In summary, this paper explores a new field of study on risk management study of the self-employed and managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises, people who make contribute significantly to local economies.