Obesity campaigner is calling on companies to take a Japanese-style approach to measuring employees’ WAIST in a bid to keep staff slim, as shock report reveals obese workers are twice as likely to be on long-term sick leave

Britons should have their waists measured at work, according to a prominent obesity campaigner.

And their bosses could even face fines if too many of their employees are overweight under the proposed Japanese measure.

The calls for this action come after a study found that furloughs due to obesity-related illnesses are seriously hampering British economic growth.

The unpublished study found that overweight people were 22 percent more likely to take at least seven sick days off per year compared to their healthy counterparts.

When combined with those who are obese, this could result in 60 percent of the population taking time off work due to weight-related issues such as diabetes or heart disease.

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said the answer to Britain’s weight-related workforce problem was to take inspiration from Japan and its ‘metabo’ law.

The law, introduced in 2008, requires all Japanese workers between the ages of 40 and 70 to have their waist measured by their employer once a year.

If an employer has too many fat employees, they can face fines from the government.

Employees are protected from dismissal, leading to employer-led incentives to help them lose weight, from company exercise programs to referrals to weight management courses.

Mr Fry said the system was working incredibly well and called for a similar measure to be introduced in Britain to tackle the ‘appalling’ obesity epidemic.

“Japan has an obesity level of 6 percent, we have an obesity level of 28 percent,” he said.

“We need to take these kinds of measures to reduce what is now a terrible problem.”

However, he added that other additional measures should also be considered

He added that the damage affects not only people’s health but also the economy.

“The damage to the public purse is really quite dramatic,” he said.

“If there are so many employees who can’t go to work, it’s going to cause a real headache somewhere.”

Mr Fry said ministers can no longer afford to fear being labeled tools of the “nanny state”, or give in to critics who say such measures are “embarrassing or an infringement on civil liberties”.

“We are losing £98 billion a year due to obesity and the many problems it brings,” he said.

“Medical problems, people not coming to work, affect production and (as a result) a weaker economy.”

He said that while a British metabo-style law might look very different from the Japanese original, he said the idea was to do something within the workspace.

‘You send them to weight management courses. When you have someone who is overweight, you don’t just sit there and say, “tough.” Do something about it,” he said.

He acknowledged that such a move would be potentially unpopular, but he pointed out that this was also the case with seat belt legislation when it was first introduced.

“How dare the government tell us that we have to put on our seat belts every time we drive, and if you don’t put on your seat belt, you will be fined,” he said.

“So now everyone’s putting on their seat belts.”

But even if the Government turned around tomorrow and promised to introduce a Metabo-style law, Mr Fry said this would not be a quick fix and other anti-obesity measures would still be needed.

“It will take some time if we were to introduce something like that in this country,” he said.

“But the fact is, it works.”

The researchers of the new study, who presented their findings at the European Congress on Obesity in Venice, revealed that Britain is ‘one of the worst’ of the 28 countries they studied for obesity absenteeism.

Data for Britain shows that those classified as obese, with a BMI over 30, are almost a quarter (23 percent) more likely to be absent from work for a period of time. People with severe obesity – with a BMI above 40 – were more than twice as likely (118 percent) to take time off.

Last month the Prime Minister announced plans to tackle the ‘culture of illness’ with major reforms to the benefits system. But experts said the plans have little chance of success unless ministers tackle obesity.

A December report found that Britain has the third highest rate of obesity within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, with an estimated annual cost to the British economy of £98 billion.

Overall, two-thirds of all British adults are now overweight, compared to just half in the mid-1990s. Of these, a quarter are overweight.