The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare demands the steel industry to implement thorough measures to prevent industrial accidents

Since 2001, the steel sector, with the exception of the die casting business, has been seeing a growing incidence of workplace-related deaths and injuries. As of mid-May 2003, ten deaths had occurred, exceeding the number posted in the same period last year. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare takes the matter very seriously and has demanded the steel industry to thoroughly implement comprehensive measures to prevent workers' accidents and injuries.

The Ministry decided to issue this demand since it found that a arge number of these accidents and injuries resulted from workers falling or coming into contact with machines and equipment, necessitating the establishment of basic and comprehensive safety measures throughout the industry.

According to a survey conducted by the Ministry on the status of deaths and injuries occurring in all Japanese industries in 2002, there were 1,658 industrial accident-related deaths throughout Japan. The number was below 2,000 for the fifth consecutive year, with this year's figure being the smallest ever.

By type of industry, the largest number of deaths occurred in the construction sector with 607, followed by the manufacturing sector (275)
and the land cargo transport sector (234).