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CHAPTER 29 DISASTERS AND ACCIDENTS
This chapter covers environment, disasters and accidents.
The section of disasters contains statistics on natural disasters such as typhoons, heavy rain, earthquakes, etc., fires and industrial injuries. The principal sources of data for "White Paper on Fire Fighting" by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, "Crop Survey" by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; for damage by fires, are "Annual Report on Fires" and "Annual Report on Fire Fighting" by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency; and for industrial injuries, are "Report on Industrial Accidents" and "Survey on Industrial Injuries" by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and " Statistics on Mine Safety " by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The section of accidents contains statistics on road traffic accidents, railway accidents, shipping accidents, and electric and gas accidents. The principal sources of data are "Traffic Statistics" and "Annual Statistics on Road Traffic Accident" compiled by the National Police Agency, "Yearbook of Railway Statistics" by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and "Handbook of Gas Utility Industry" by the Japan Gas Association, "Statistics on Electric Accidents" by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Natural disasters
Fire and Disaster Management Agency collects data on natural disasters from prefectures, etc, and compiles a white paper. The white paper contains statistics on damages caused by stormy winds, heavy rain, flood, storm surges, earthquakes (including volcanic activities) and tidal waves.
National Police Agency also compiles, as administrative materials, the damages caused by natural disasters and the police activities against principal disasters. However, there is some disagreement between the two materials due to the difference in the coverage of natural disasters and in the survey method, etc.
Fires
Data on the facilities for fire fighting and the call frequency for fire services are obtained from "Annual Report on Fire Defence" compiled by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency based on the result of annual inquiries on the condition of the fire and disaster prevention administration in all prefectures. Data on number of fires and damage are obtained from "Annual Report on Fires" compiled from the fire reports prepared by shi (cities), machi (towns) and mura (villages) and submitted through prefectures pursuant to the manual of the fire reports under the Act Concerning Fire Defence Organisation.
Fire damage refers to direct damage caused by fire and is classified into burnt damage, fire fighting damage, explosion damage and personal damage (death or bodily injury by fire). The burnt damage refers to the value of properties burnt down by fires or broken down by heat, etc., while the fire fighting damage refers to the damage caused by water, dilapidation and spoilage, etc. resulted from fighting fires. And the explosion damage refers to the damage caused by the destructive effects of explosions, but excludes fire and fire fighting damage resulted from explosions. Fire damage excludes indirect expenses such as expenses required for fire fighting, expenses for cleaning up debris, and the loss caused by suspension of business on account of fires, etc. The value of damage is calculated on the basis of the current market prices, and does not include bodily damage.
Report on Industrial Accidents
This report is compiled by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to obtain the basic data on the cases of industrial accidents, such as those involving death and injury (death and injury demanding absence of 4 days or more), those involving death, and serious accidents (3 or more workers are injured or contract disease at the same time).
Survey on Industrial Accidents
This survey has been conducted annually by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare since 1952 with an aim to clarify the situation of the occurrence of industrial injuries.
Industrial injuries refer to death, bodily injury or illness (excluding delayed illness, food poisoning and infectious diseases) of workers caused by their duty while working, except for injuries caused by accidents while commuting.
Survey of establishments
This survey is a sample survey on a sample of about 32,000 establishments selected from private, national and public establishments (for agriculture and forestry, private establishments only) of the under stated industries employing 30 or more regular workers, and private establishments of the designated part of manufacturing employing 10 to 29 regular workers.Establishments with managerial and clerical workers only and establishments of mining and quarrying of stone and gravel covered by the Mine Safety Act are excluded.
- Industry
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Industries (by Japan Standard Industrial Classification (Rev.12)) covered are, A-Agriculture and forestry, C-Mining and quarrying of stone and gravel, D-Construction (excluding general construction work), E-Manufacturing, F-Electricity, gas, heat supply and water, G-Information and communications (communications, newspapers and publishers only), H-Transport and postal activities, I-Wholesale and retail trade, M-Accommodations, eating and drinking services (hotels only), N-Living-related and personal services and amusement services (laundries, travel agency and golf courses only), P-Medical, health care and welfare (hospitals, clinics of medical practitioners, public health centres, health consultation offices, child welfare services, welfare services for the aged and care services and welfare services for disabled persons only), R-Services, n.e.c. (domestic waste disposal business, industrial waste disposal business, automobile maintenance services, machine repair shops, electrical machinery, apparatus, appliances and supplies repair shops, and building maintenance services only).
Survey of general construction work
Surveyed are 5,000 construction sites selected by the specified method from the sites for which approximate premium of the Worker's Accident Compensation Insurance is 1,600,000 yen or more or contract amount for the work is 190 million yen or more.
Statistics on Mine Safety
This report was initiated in 1949 when the Mine Safety Act was enforced in order to surely grasp the occurrence of accidents at each mine and their statistics by region and country. This is compiled monthly and addressed to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Sufferers refer to persons killed or injured on duty (except diseases resulted from duty). Among the sufferers, the seriously injured refer to persons severely wounded (demanding absence of 4 weeks or more) or persons absent from work for 2 weeks or more but less than 4 weeks, and the slightly injured refer to persons absent from work for three days or more but less than 2 weeks.
Road traffic accidents
Data are tabulated by the National Police Agency based on the original statistical reports on traffic accident submitted by police stations. Road traffic accidents refer to accidents involving deaths or injuries that occurred to persons by the traffic of vehicles (including light vehicles such as bicycles), streetcars and trains, on the roads prescribed by the Road Traffic Act, and do not include accidents with property damages only. Accordingly, they include accidents at the railway crossing, but exclude other railway accidents. Persons killed refer to those who died within 24 hours after the occurrence of the road traffic accidents. Persons injured refer to those injured by road traffic accidents; the seriously injured to those who need medical treatment for 30 days or more, and the slightly injured, to those who need medical treatment for less than 30 days.
Railway accidents
Data are compiled by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism based on the reports submitted in accordance with the Regulations Concerning the Report of Railway Accidents and the Regulations Concerning the Report of Street Railway Accidents. Operation accidents refer to train collisions, train derailments, train fires, crossing accidents, road accidents, personal accidents, and property damage of 5 million yen or more occurred due to the operation of trains or rolling stock. Persons killed refer to those who died within 24 hours after the accident occurred.
Marine accidents
Marine accidents refer to recognised accidents as defined in the Article 2 of the Act on Marine Accident Inquiry. Covered are accidents of Japanese vessels occurred in any water area in the world including rivers and lakes. Since the enforcement of the Act on Marine Accident Inquiry in 1948, the Marine Accident Inquiry Agency was in charge of inquiry of the cause and disciplinary action for marine accidents until the reorganisation on 1 October 2008. Since then, the newly established Marine Accident Tribunal is responsible for the accusation against sailors through marine accident investigation, and Japan Transport Safety Board is in charge of the inquiry of the cause.
