Electrical Injury Rate and Epidemiology in Japan, 2013–2015

One of many injury accidents caused by electric shock is the fatal electrical accident. Out of 341 electrical injury accidents that occurred from 2013 to 2015 in Japan, 31 were fatal. Thus, about 10% of all electric injury accidents resulted in death. When a part of human body touches a charged object in an electrical installation, it is possible for an electric shock to cause an accidental injury or fatality. The elimination of such accidents is necessary. However, the elimination of electric shock accidents is difficult, owing to the sheer number of workers in the workforce, about 64 million in 2015. The difficulty in implementing thorough safety education and preventive measures for all workers is apparent, as it is easy for a worker to occasionally not take such measures as the use of an appropriate insulating safeguard of an insulating rubber glove. How do we educate such a worker who occasionally decides not to use the insulating safeguard? The problem of safety education is therefore in need of a solution. If the function of safety operation devices is improved, electric shock accidents can be prevented even if a worker does not use such an insulating safeguard. In this study, 87 of 341 electrical injury accidents that occurred in Japan between 2013 and 2015 are considered. The results show that many electrical injury accidents occur between 0900-1200 h, and that many of the victims of electrical injury were in their thirties. This data will be helpful in promoting the prevention of electrical injury accidents.