Abstract
In the present paper, it was intended to describe 1) present situation of occupational accidents in Japan, 2) current investigation system for occupational accidents, 3) present countermeasures for occupational accidents, and 4) proposal for prevention of occupational accidents from epidemiological point of view.
In Japan, number of deaths due to occupational accidents decreased dramatically form 1970 through 1986. But no such decline has been observed last 10 years, even various countermeasures has been applied for prevention of occupational accidents.
In order to make present countermeasures more effective, epidemiological approaches have been proposed as stated below; 1) to strengthen descriptive epidemiology using original data of present accident reports, near miss cases reports etc. 2) to apply analytical epidemiology (case control study, cohort study) or intervention study to clarify causal factors for occupational accidents, 3) to stimulate epidemiological method to evaluate effectiveness of countermeasures taken and 4) to encourage multidisciplinary approaches to prevent occupational accidents (medical science, epidemiology, information science, behavioral science, psychology, safety engineering, ergonomics, human factor engineering, etc.).
