Japan's rapid industrialization and economic growth in the latter half of the 1900s resulted in significant increases in the number of industrial accidents, leading to the worst record of 6,712 fatal accidents in 1961.

As such accidents not only put people's lives at risk but also negatively affect normal production activities and socioeconomic development, a number of measures have been actively taken by industries, government agencies and related organizations to positively promote industrial safety and health activities in the workplace. As a result of such efforts, the number of fatal accidents has now been reduced to about one-third of the worst levels record in the past.

In particular, it should be noted that the decline in the number of accidents became conspicuous after the Industrial Safety and Health Law was enacted in 1972. This means that the law has largely contributed to reducing industrial accidents.

Japan's Industrial Safety and Health Law and related ordinances are introduced in the article "About Occupational Safety and Health in Japan (Laws Relating to Industrial Safety and Health)" at this website. In addition to this, we would like to introduce an outline of the law and related ordinances in a series of articles.