NITE Alert_61

I. Accident information collected under the Accident Information Collection System

NITE collects accident information on consumer products under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry such as home electrical appliances, combustion appliances, vehicles, leisure goods, baby products, etc, in case of: (1) accidents causing human injury, (2) accidents causing property damage with high probability of causing human injury and (3) defective products with a high probability of causing human injury.

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II. Accident information Collection System and number of accident cases collected

The number of product accident cases collected in FY 2002 was 2,132. Of these, about 47 percent related to "home electric appliances" and about 31 percent to "combustion appliances."

Accident information is proactively collected from sources nationwide, including consumers, consumer affairs centers across the country, administrative agencies, reports from manufacturers and accident information posted in newspapers and on the Internet.
The total number of accident cases collected in FY2002 was 2,132. The total comes to 1,803 as of June 13, 2003, counting multiple reports concerning the same product as a single case, while discounting cases where the product was found not to be the cause and cases concerning products not under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). (The number includes cases under investigation)

1. Accident causes

Investigation identified accident causes for 867 cases in FY 2002 (Total for cases collected between FY2000 and 2002).
About 90 percent of 265 cases collected in FY 2002, classed as "accidents caused by products", were found to be associated with problems of product design, manufacturing or labeling. About 84 percent of the 186 cases, classed as "accidents not caused by products", appeared to involve misuse or negligence.

Of the collected accident cases, investigations have been completed with identified accident causes on 867 cases (including 11 cases from 2000, 405 cases from 2001 and 451 cases from 2002) as of June 13, 2003.
About 90 percent of "accidents caused by products" which were collected in FY2002, were accidents appearing to involve problems of product design, manufacturing or labeling. About 84 percent of "accidents not caused by product" were attributable to "accidents caused by misuse or negligence" of consumers.

Chart 2 Number of accident classified by causes

Category		2000	2001	2002
Accidents caused by product		7	131	265
	A : Accidents supposedly caused by problems of design, manufacturing, labeling, etc.	7	114	238
	B : Accidents supposedly caused by problems of products themselves and affected by use conditions	0	6	7
	C : Accidents supposedly caused by performance degradation due to extended periods after manufacturing and long duration of operation	0	11	20
Accidents not caused by product		4	274	186
	D : Accidents supposedly caused by works/services by agents or handling in transportation, etc.	4	11	14
	E : Accidents due to misuse or negligence	0	224	157
	F : Other accidents not caused by products	0	39	15
Accidents caused of unknown origin		17	135	150
	G: Unidentified Cause	17	135	150
Total		28	540	601

2. Damage and injury

Among "accidents caused by products", there were 40 cases of human injury, including serious and minor injuries, no deaths, and 192 cases which extended to property damages.
"Accidents not caused by products" include 73 cases of human injury, including serious injuries, minor injuries and deaths, and 88 cases which extended to property damage.

3 serious injury cases of "accidents caused by products" involved a "portable toilet", a "disposable cigarette gas lighter" and a "kickboard".
Among "accidents not caused by products", 13 deaths and 11 serious injuries were due to "accidents caused by misuse or negligence"; for example, electrocution caused by a graphite fishing rod contacting a high-voltage overhead wire at a railway crossing;
carbon monoxide poisoning due to use of a heating appliance with a charcoal briquette in a car; and a boy suffering a laceration after his right heel got caught in a wheel when sitting on a child seat mounted on a bicycle.

Classifications:

A:

Accidents supposedly caused by problems of design, manufacturing, labeling, etc.

B:

Accidents supposedly caused by problems of products themselves, and affected by use conditions.

C:

Accidents supposedly caused by performance degradation due to extended periods after manufacturing and long duration of operation.

D:

Accidents supposedly caused by works/services by agents or handling in transportation, etc.

E:

Accidents due to misuse or negligence.

F:

Other accidents not caused by products.

G:

Accidents caused of unknown origin.

3. Preventive measures

Manufacturers, etc, have implemented preventive measures for about 94 percent of "accidents caused by products". The remaining 6 percent includes; cases for which measures could not be implemented because product manufacturers, etc, could not be identified due to fire damage, etc; and cases caused by deteriorated products now rarely seen in the market for witch no other accident information has been collected. Specific preventive actions include: (1) posting company announcements in newspapers and on web pages, and conducting product recalls and replacements, (2) alerting through direct mail and manufacturers’ web pages, (3) improvement of manufacturing processes, and enhancement and strict adherence to quality control procedures, and (4) improvement of instruction manuals and labeling.

4. Accident trend in FY 2002

In FY2002, information on multiple accidents related to "DC power supply equipment" was collected

• Accidents categorized by products

  Of the top 5 accident causing items between FY2001 and 2002, the highest number of accident cases reported to NITE involved the "DC power supply equipment" used for electric shavers, etc. This is due to multiple accidents involving smoke and fire caused by products manufactured by a specific manufacturer. Company announcements have been posted and the products are currently under recall.
  "Kerosene heaters" typically have a high number of reported accident cases, ranking second every year. The majority of accident causes are categorized as "misuse or negligence of the user", with many cases presumed to be caused by drying laundry falling on top of the heater and catching fire, and in other cases, fires presumed to be caused by kerosene leaking from improperly capped cartridge tanks.
  Many accident information cases associated with "four wheel vehicles" are collected each year. Causes cannot be identified in most cases due to extensive fire damages, but identified causes are related to poor maintenance and repair such as oil leaks, gasoline leaks, wiring short circuits, and misplacing of flammable items after repair work. The number of collected accident cases on "color TV" ranked fourth in 2000 and 2001 following company announcements placed by two manufacturers in FY2000 announcing "prolonged use may cause a crack on a part of the substrate, and continued use may result in fire and smoke". However, this category did not appear in the top 5 items list for FY2002.
  Many accidents involving "electric heaters" are caused by flammable items such as bedding, coming into contact with heaters without the user noticing. They are classed as "accidents due to misuse or negligence" since these fires started because the user forgot to turn off the power when going out or left the heaters on during sleep. NITE collected accident information involving "refrigerators" associated with the faulty design of products manufactured by a specific manufacturer in 2000. However,
  "refrigerators" have not ranked in top 5 items since 2001 following the implementation of preventive measures by the relevant manufacturer.

Chart 4 Top 5 items classified by year

	FY 2000 (Number of accident information: 1,446)			FY 2001 (Number of accident information: 1,546)			FY 2002 (Number of accident information: 1,803)
Rank	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio
1	Refrigerator	146	10.1	DC power Supply Equipment	218	14.1	DC power Supply Equipment	256	14.2
2	Kerosene Heater	130	8.9	Kerosene Heater	188	12.2	Kerosene Heater	180	10.0
3	Four Wheel Vehicle	116	8.0	Four Wheel Vehicle	124	8.0	Gas Cooking Stove	146	8.1
4	Color TV	90	6.2	Color TV	67	4.3	Four Wheel Vehicle	135	7.5
5	DC power Supply Equipment	64	4.4	Disposable Cigarette Lighter	62	4.0	Electric Heater	97	5.4
Total		546	37.6		659	42.6		814	45.2

When looking at the worst 5 items list for "accidents caused by products", the number of accidents related to "DC power supply equipment" used for electric shavers (fire and smoke due to improper design) is conspicuously high in comparison to other products due to frequent accidents occurring in the last three years. This is due to multiple accidents involving smoke and fire caused by products manufactured by the same manufacturer. Company announcement have been made and the products are currently under recal.

Chart 5 Top 5 items related to "accidents caused by products"

	FY 2000 (Number of accident information: 1,404)			FY 2001 (Number of accident information: 1,409)			FY 2002 (Number of accident information: 601)
Rank	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio
1	Refrigerator	142	10.1	DC power Supply Equipment	211	15.0	DC power Supply Equipment	159	26.5
2	DC power Supply Equipment	64	4.6	Disposable Cigarette Lighter	28	2.0	Electric foot warmer	25	4.2
3	Electric Laundry Drier	52	3.7	Color TV	21	1.5	Disposable Cigarette Lighter	11	1.8
4	Color TV	50	3.6	Humidifier	19	1.4	Vacuum Cleaner	8	1.3
5	Disposable Cigarette Lighter	23	1.6	Vacuum Cleaner	18	1.3	Electric Laundry Machine	5	0.8
Total		331	23.6		297	21.2		208	34.6

According to the chart for the top 5 items for "accidents due to misuse or negligence" in past three years, kerosene heaters and gas cooking stoves continue to rank first and second respectively, while other combustion appliances regularly appear in the top 5. NITE has been promoting consumer and manufacturer awareness by providing information on its webpage and the publication of collected accident information reports.
In order to minimize "accidents due to misuse or negligence," manufacturers of kerosene heaters and gas cooking stoves that are frequently involved in accidents have been promoting consumer awareness by placing warnings and precautions on the instruction manuals of kerosene heaters and installing apparatus on gas cooking stoves to prevent fire due to failure to turn off or overheating. However, accidents continue to occur despite these efforts, indicating that greater efforts in the education of consumers and the further promotion of consumer awareness are important and effective factors in the prevention of accidents caused by misuse or negligence.

Chart 6 Top 5 items related to "accidents due to misuse or negligence"

	FY 2000 (Number of accident information: 1,404)			FY 2001 (Number of accident information: 1,409)			FY 2002 (Number of accident information: 601)
Rank	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio	Product	Number of accidents	Ratio
1	Kerosene Heater	109	7.8	Kerosene Heater	143	10.2	Gas Cooking Stove	32	5.3
2	Gas Cooking Stove	44	3.1	Gas Cooking Stove	46	3.3	Kerosene Heater	21	3.5
3	Four Wheel Vehicle	32	2.3	Electric Heater	32	2.3	Four Wheel Vehicle	17	2.8
4	Electric Heater	15	1.1	Four Wheel Vehicle	31	2.2	Firewood Bath Boiler	6	1.0
5	Kerosene Fan Heater	14	1.0	Kerosene Fan Heater	17	1.2	Electric Heater	5	0.8
Total		214	15.3		269	19.1		81	11.9

Fore more information;
National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE)
Product Safety Technology Center, Product Safety Investigation Division