The number of occupational accidents in the tertiary industries has continued to increase and becomes a crucial issue, while accidents in the manufacturing and construction industries have significantly decreased on a mid- to long-term basis.

In order to properly address this issue, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare developed the 12th Occupational Safety and Health Program (2013-2017). One of main goals of this program was to reduce occupational accidents at wholesalers, retailers, restaurants, and social welfare facilities, with special focus on reduction in risk of accidents caused by human errors, e.g. falls due to slipping or tripping, and back pain by carrying heavy articles.

Retail and restaurant chains provide their services under a wide variety of operation methods and production processes. Accident prevention, therefore, depends to a large degree on the type of business operation. In one example, injuries related to knives are rarely reported in the restaurants that operate their own centralized food processing and joint delivery system, though cuts and abrasions by knives are one of the biggest contributors to injuries in each type of restaurant.

This paper offers a perspective on the trends in the occupational accidents in retail and restaurant chains based on the occupational accident data analysis.