Introduction Occupational health nurses can achieve high performance so that the competencies necessary for occupational health nursing practices are being acquired. The purpose of this study was to clarify how occupational health nurses are in possession of competencies required for occupational health nursing practices in Japan.

Methods An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted by mail. The questionnaires were distributed to 357 Japanese occupational health nurses and 211 were collected. (response rate, 56.3%). 21 of 211 were excluded because of incomplete responses and 190 were analysed. We asked the rate at which they possessed 40 competencies developed by Kono, et al. All competencies were rated on a 7-point Likert scale (1=Never, 7=Always). Data were collected between September 2016 and January 2017. We calculated descriptive statistics for all variables. As for the comparison of competencies’ scores by years of experience as occupational health nurses, the Tukey HSD test was used. This study was approved by the ethical review board of Yokkaichi Nursing and Medical Care University.

Results The mean score of 8 competencies was more than 5.5 points. The mean score of 3 competencies was less than 4.5 points. All competencies’ scores differed significantly by years of experience as occupational health nurses.

Discussion The competencies with high scores were common to nurses who had awareness of themselves as professionals, valuing human relations with clients, and supporting clients with respect. Therefore, we considered that these were competencies that were easy to acquire for occupational health nurses who learned nursing science. We also considered that some competencies might be low because nurses were not able to acquire them without opportunities for experience and activity.