Past Winners

Major CompanyExcellence Award (Judging Committee Award) Kai corporation co., ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Utilizing text mining tools to analyze and improve the voices of the customer (VOC)

The voices of our customers (VOC) regarding their products, such as company inquiries and uploads to social media, will be gathered and managed in their centralized in-house database. From there, they utilize text mining tools to filter out meaningful critiques and information pertaining to safety, which they can use for various product safety measures, such as in design development or discussions related to product recall.

●Collecting information about product accidents from Japan and overseas and its application in design development

They continuously collect a wide range of accident information pertaining to all kinds of consumer products in addition to their own, from Japan to the USA, Europe, Australia, Canada, and China. In addition to root cause analysis, they also share this information through in-house meetings and systems. Any knowledge gained, regardless of whether it pertains to a bladed product or not, will be utilized in the development of a product that they have never handled before in their electrical cooking utensil lineup.

●Building a culture of product safety through the certification system for becoming a Meister

The purpose of every employee is to be able to “talk about and explain bladed products in detail.” For this, they have installed the “Meister System” to encourage employees to learn about proper ways to handle products, including sharpening skills. Qualified and certified individuals are then tasked with holding seminars for wholesale stores and piquing consumer interests at storefronts, in addition to building a culture of product safety.

Major CompanyExcellence Award (Judging Committee Award) Zojirushi Corporation

Reason for Winning

●Pioneering safety standards that are ahead of our competition and elevating industry standards

In light of scalding accidents caused by overturned electrical water boiler products such as electric kettles due to the carelessness of users, they formulated their very own testing and requirement criteria to prevent these products from overturning and spilling hot water. They believe that this will lead to the manufacture of safer products, and they hope that our work with the relevant parties will help this be adopted as a JIS standard, which will contribute to the overall improvement of safety standards in the industry.

●Running “cross-functional meetings” that transcend department boundaries

Aside from holding meetings for each department, they run “cross-functional meetings” that straddle personnel from various departments, including design, quality control, printing, electronics, and more. These work as a measure to prevent changes in the client’s product materials or composition without the approval of the supplier, as well as allowing them to gather and analyze information on product accidents. This is effective in optimizing the necessary measures to be implemented for all departments, in addition to strengthening inter-departmental relationships.

●Devising caution reminders for consumers to prevent accidents due to misuse

For any information that needs special reminders, rather than limiting precautions to text in a manual, they make sure to place a leaflet where the user will see it when they open the packaging, or find a way to smoothly guide users through how-to videos of the products using a QR code in the manuals. They are devising various ways and trying out ideas to prevent accidents due to misuse before they occur.

Major CompanyExcellence Award (Judging Committee Award) Paloma Co., LTD

Reason for Winning

●Designs based on past accidents and thorough safety measures during construction

Once top management realized that “[product misuse] is a dangerous word,” the causes of accidents were thoroughly studied and design measures were improved to prevent accidents due to misuse. In addition, in order to prevent improper installation and repair accidents, they utilize our eight training centers nationwide and conduct safety education regarding repairs and construction for a wide range of customers, as well as provide a thorough safety education for contractors using our very own in-house qualification system.

●Mechanisms to verify product accidents and defects in the event of product recall

Information from every product accident and defect that occurs shall be immediately shared across departments, with a system put in place to understand the details and analyze the root cause, as well as discuss measures to be taken in the event that a product recall might take place. Even in cases where it is decided that there will be no recall, a system shall be put in place to periodically deliberate on the appropriateness of such a decision by a committee made up of outside experts.

●Handing down the lessons learned from past experiences through our “Learning from failures” exhibit

They have an exhibition display in a corner of our headquarters that shows accidents and product recalls that have occurred in the past. They also have a display showing the root cause of the accidents, measures taken, and the lessons they learned. They have made it mandatory for all recently recruited employees or those who are going through a promotion to take a tour of this area to make sure these memories will not fade away with time. In addition, this is also for everyone to relearn the importance of product safety and to continue developing this initiative.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyMETI Minister's Award MAZROC. co., ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Realizing both product safety and a circular economy through the MOTOE project

They actively promote the “MOTOE project,” a project that recovers old products for reuse. They replace components and repaint old products, then after inspecting and confirming their safety, they reintroduce them as reusable products. During the repair process, they analyze the deterioration patterns in older products and utilize the information to make improvements and changes to the design in newer models. Through these activities they are able to realize both product safety and a circular economy.

●Continued promotion of a centralized hub for managing product safety information

By collecting all information relating to a product’s design, production, packaging, customer inquiries and complaints, and making it all accessible through a centralized database, they promote a system that makes it possible to prevent reoccurring defects in newly developed items, as well as providing the opportunity to assess similar case studies should accidents ever occur.

●Building a culture of product safety by collaborating with various stakeholders

They are actively building a culture of product safety by collaborating with various stakeholders that are within the circle of their company. This includes holding regular seminars for long-term care businesses that use their products and workshops for their contractors to prevent faulty construction, and a joint study between industry‐academia‐government bodies to investigate real-world product accidents. They will also participate in events to prevent product misuse in local governments with a high elderly population, in addition to using social media to maintain a communication pipeline.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyDirector-General for Technology Policy Coordination and
Industrial and Product Safety’s Award OGK KABUTO Co., Ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Actively raising safety awareness by encouraging the obligatory use of helmets for cyclists

In light of the use of helmets being made mandatory effort for cyclists nationwide in April 2023, they have taken action towards raising awareness by holding work shop at police stations, local governments, and schools in various regions. This is to ensure that people understand the importance of wearing a helmet, as well as the correct way to choose and wear one, which they enact through co-creating awareness videos with local governments and spreading the videos through industry associations.

●Safety verification that take into account long-term outdoor usage and initiatives towards product refinement

Due to helmets being notable for their long-term outdoor use, this has led to a study on designs and selection of materials that are less likely to degrade. This study includes not only proactive initiatives towards advanced safety through joint research with universities, but also accelerated degradation tests beyond the scope of standard requirements and outdoor exposure checks to confirm the functionality of the products and components both before and after exposure.

●Product safety measures based on customer opinion

They internally share information about defects gathered from their customers. Additionally, they strive to design products that prevent potential accidents from occurring by periodically holding TQM activities with multiple departments, including the QA department. To improve their products, they keep an ear out for consumer opinions from the elderly and those that are unfamiliar with using helmets due to increased demand.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyDirector-General for Technology Policy Coordination and
Industrial and Product Safety’s Award TAKAGI CO., LTD

Reason for Winning

●Initiatives to prevent accidents due to misuse using the information gathering system ”CINDY”

All information, such as inquiries from clients about their products, gathered via their website, email, telephone, and other routes shall be managed through the centralized information gathering system “CINDY.” Through this system, and by frequently reviewing the product FAQ on their company website and manuals, they can not only properly organize but also understand the interests, questions and requests of consumers. Additionally, they will work towards preventing accidents due to misuse by informing consumers and helping them understand more about their products.

●Ensuring traceability to prepare for the unlikely event of a product recall and the method of notification

To prepare for the unlikely event of product accidents and defects, they ensure traceability at the component level, such as battery packs, using QR codes, and at the product level using manufacture lot numbers. Additionally, they are building a system to directly and quickly send recall notifications to relevant parties through their official company LINE（mobile messenger application）account.

●Promoting safety measures while continuing to take into consideration top management and our presence in the Tsubame Sanjo region

Under the supervision of our top management, they have begun a project to proactively realize their own measures towards product safety that do not simply meet the industry standards. As they are based in Tsubame Sanjo region, they can utilize the knowledge they gain through our active exchange of ideas with various companies in the area that have also received awards to promote even more progressive safety measures within the industry.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyExcellence Award (Judging Committee Award) Ed.Inter Co., Ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Product development that reflects user voices and setting the target age

In order to evaluate and make improvements from a safety perspective using real-life use cases among infants, they have invited a veteran tutor from their nursery into their product planning and design. In addition, they set up a target age range for games and mental training, as well as imposed a strict safety standard in their products to avoid small parts from falling off and causing accidental ingestion.

●Voluntary and continuous improvement of a product based on strong safety awareness

The opinions of their clients are thoroughly collected via emails and phone calls, as well as through their company website. In the event of receiving any information about defects and accidents, the actual product in question is always recovered for root cause analysis. Even in cases where there were no accidents or defects, the results are used in voluntary product improvements from a safety perspective, in addition to being collected in a database for future product development.

●Safety-first craftsmanship in our overseas factory

They are the only Japanese manufacturer of wooden educational toys that has an overseas factory. At this factory they make sure to ensure traceability from material sourcing to the wood processing, coating, inspection, and shipping, as well as dispatch a staff member from headquarters once a month to check the manufacturing process and provide supervision to ensure safe craftsmanship.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyExcellence Award (Committee Award) KASHIWA Mokko Co.Ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Our own criteria formulation and joint technology based on the features of lumber

Due to the organic nature of lumber, they know that its strength and density can vary. As such, they have formulated their own criteria for size and quantity to find an appropriate range. They are devising methods to prevent accidents due to product fractures by selecting and using materials that meet these criteria. They have developed their very own “S-shaped finger joint” technology, the design of which strengthens the material.

●Supervision by the transport company to prevent accidents due to impact during transit

By analyzing past data related to product accidents, they discovered that the majority were caused by impact during transit. As a result, they distributed handouts requesting that transport, installation, and packing companies exercise greater caution.
Additionally, they visited distribution and delivery sites to observe the actual processes, such as loading and unloading, from assembly to final delivery. Based on these observations, they proposed improvements wherever necessary, which led to accident prevention.

●Initiatives to build a product safety culture that is ahead of industry organizations

As a member company of the Hida Woodworking Federation, they have actively hosted local elementary school students for factory tours for over 30 years to share the proper way to use their products. In addition, they also oversee the development of authentication criteria for the Federation, which includes lumber, coatings, and adhesives.
They have consistently contributed over the years to building a product safety culture that is ahead of industry organizations.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyExcellence Award (Committee Award) SEIBAN Co.,Ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Safety measures in designs based on accident trends among elementary students

In order to ensure the safety of elementary students, they gathered information on accidents that occurred while students were using backpacks. Based on accidents that involved students being caught between bus doors, they have taken measures to develop metal fittings that automatically fall off when pulled with a certain amount of force. They also adopted the use of reflector materials to prevent traffic accidents from happening due to low visibility during the evening and at night.

●Operating as an industry leader according to our very own standards of up to 10 years of use

Based on the features of backpacks that are used long-term in various environments, they have formulated our very own 10-year-use standards that extends past the industry standard of 6 years. They only adopt materials (in all color variations) whose durability has been confirmed through their in-house facility that tests for rapid deterioration.

●Monitoring support status using the voices of customers (VOC) and sharing this information with the entire company

They gather complaints and requests from the voices of customers (VOC) that come through our inquiries and allocate the appropriate department to handle any issues. They have setup a system so that the information is shared with the entire company to prevent voices from being ignored or insufficiently handled.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyExcellence Award (Committee Award) Nissin Medical Industries Co., Ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Product development on the user perspective

During the development stages of a new product, their main aim is to create a safer product while ensuring basic safety through their own tests and commercial standards. Through the inspection of a prototype by a wheelchair user in our company, they can find issues on a user perspective and feed them back to the R&D department.

●Accumulation of knowledge in our own checklist

Regarding made-to-order products, they summarize any issues that occur during the development process and utilize them for future product developments.

●Company-wide sharing of product accidents and defect information

Any information on product accidents and defects are gathered by the sales personnel through retailers/wholesalers and are registered in our in-house core system so that it is shared by all the relevant parties within our company and utilized to produce safer products.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyExcellence Award (Committee Award) PLATZ Co.,Ltd.

Reason for Winning

●Ensuring traceability in the production process by utilizing video records

In addition to attaching serial numbers to each material, by having a video recording of the production process they can build a system to confirm at a later time what material was processed when, how, and by who. In the event of a product defect, this will make it possible to identify the cause and discuss measures in accordance with the actual situation.

●4-panel comics as a reminder of nursing product accidents and near-misses

Case studies of nursing bed and stationary handrail accidents and near-misses are summarized in 4-panel comics. They have prepared a guidebook to raise awareness on the proper usage and selection of products and distributed it among medical and nursing workers, as well as among their company customers and general consumers in order to prevent accidents when using nursing products from occurring.

●Sharing accident information at an industry organization level and re-examining our products

As a member of the Safety Promotion Council for Medical and Home Care Bed, they join the activities and share information on why and how significant product accidents occur. Utilizing what they can learn about accident information on another company’s product, they can risk assess whether or not their own product may suffer a similar fate, and as such they can work towards redesigning it if they deem it necessary.

Small and Medium-Sized CompanyExcellence Award (Judging Committee Award) Nara-Nikka Service Co.,Ltd

Reason for Winning

●Quick and proper aftercare via a customer management system

Traditionally, customer information was managed by each sales branch. By centralizing the management of customer information within a system shared by the entire company, any time an inquiry is made by a customer they can look back through the purchasing and repair history of the product to quickly and accurately provide repair support. In addition, they can even propose that a product be replaced due to it being past its life cycle, thereby allowing them to prevent product accidents from happening beforehand.

●Publicizing recall information to regional customers through our own intermediaries

The “Nikka Tuushin” newsletter is distributed once every 2 months to all our customers, regardless of the product sold by our company, and includes a wide array of recall information that is to be publicized by the manufacturer in order to prevent an increase in product accidents.

●Continuing product safety activities through the community-based “Anshin-club”

Since 2000, they have been carrying out the “Anshin-club,” a membership-based safety support system for local residents. This provides a maximum of up to 6 visitations for approximately 500 households to make sure that products are being used safely. In addition, they offer consultations for maintenance such as cleaning, as well as replacements when products have been used for a long time.

Businesses Category KOSHIDA ART CO.,LTD.

Reason for Winning

●Developing risk assessment methods that utilize AI

By using AI to implement correlation analysis of the text information in the accident information database, they can develop a platform that extracts hazards related to a special product. Since this will make risk assessment possible within the short time allotted rather than doing it manually, this will contribute towards a safer form of craftsmanship.

●The contribution to the formulating a standard regarding manuals and publicizing the content

When formulating a draft of a industrial standard (JIS B 9719:2022) for the creation of a manual, they contribute to this as a committee and WG member, as well as individually holding workshops to explain these standards to Japanese manufacturers and publicizing the content.

●Continued initiative support towards PS Awards' community companies

They continue to provide and increase our support for initiatives taken by Japanese companies regarding PS Awards. This includes design reviews and risk assessments of products developed by companies within or out of the PS Awards' community who were awarded a PS award, evaluations and inspections of manuals, branding that takes measures towards product safety, and more.

Businesses Category FUTAGO JITENSYA CO.,LTD.

Reason for Winning

●Initiatives to prevent product accidents by “assessment-based selling”

Using their own system of “assessment-based selling,” they can prevent accidents from happening beforehand. For example, for an individual wanting to purchase a three-wheeled bicycle for two infants to ride, they can show the merits and demerits of such a product in order to ensure that the user and the product are a good match, or provide an opportunity to show the safety risks involved regarding the possible environments where the product will be used, such as near their home or roads.

●Preventing accidents beforehand or from reoccurring by utilizing user interaction and contributing to product enhancement

When providing an assessment, they analyze and organize the information on overturning accidents that were gathered when interacting with the user. By publicizing the incident on their company website they can not only prevent accidents from happening beforehand or from reoccurring, but also provide feedback to bicycle manufacturers pertaining to the usability of their products and defects that relate to safety, which will enhance and contribute to further product development.

●Raising safety awareness through seminars at company events and for local governments

At the lectures they hold on choosing bicycles, they offer words of caution when choosing and using bicycles that children ride, regardless of whether they are two-wheeled or three-wheeled. Additionally, in seminars requested by local governments, they are raising safety awareness amongst a wide range of consumers by openly talking about topics such as proper helmet usage and maintenance, or how to prevent overturning.

Online Marketplaces Category Amazon Japan G.K.

Reason for Winning

●Upgrading an initiative that is based on the foundation of a product safety management system

When adopting a new product safety management system, they offer initiatives such as monthly risk reviews that study product safety issues from multiple angles, such as opinions of consumers and sales agents, in addition to in-house standardization of knowledge regarding product safety.

●Improving recall notifications for consumers

They have established a new team to investigate risk awareness, consumer behavior, and potential risks through questionnaires. By analyzing all this information, they make an easy to view recall notifications system on our website or an app.

●Continuing to offer and further expand the “Anshin Mail” service that offers product safety information to customers

They are collaborating with various organizations such as the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE) to continue and expand the “Amazon Anshin Mail” service that provides customers that have purchased products from a certain category with safe usage notifications. In addition, they are expanding this service to stores in the USA, Canada, Europe, and more.

Although the company is a leading online mall company and has been implementing new initiatives and improvements since their latest award in 2021, due to their large platform which quickly provides an enormous volume of trade, we hope that they will take a proactive approach towards preventing illegal goods, including those that are at risk of being illegal, from showing up on the platform.