Japan wrote robot rules into occupational safety law in the 1980s, and they still govern every industrial robot there

The document exists. The ledger fetched it at its publisher and quotes it.

Record ID

PAG-2026-0018

Kind

Binding law

Jurisdiction

Japan

Last verified

15 September 2026

Added

15 September 2026

• Article 150-3 requires written procedures for teaching work inside the operating range, a way for the worker or a watcher to stop the robot immediately, and a sign preventing others from using the start switch.
• Article 150-4 requires fences, enclosures or equivalent measures where contact with a robot in operation could endanger a worker.
• Article 150-5 requires the robot to be stopped, the start switch locked and marked during inspection, repair, adjustment, cleaning or lubrication inside the operating range.
• The supplementary provisions date the robot section to the 1983 amendment, with parts of articles 150-3, 150-4 and 150-5 in force from 1 January 1984.

The machine, Workers and bystanders, The AI inside it. Stated means the document you can open below says it; silent means the ledger read the document and it does not.

The machineStated

The duty is on the employer operating the robot rather than on the manufacturer, and the required measures are physical and procedural.e-Gov, Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health, Ordinance of the Ministry of Labour No. 32 of 1972, primary source, 15 September 2026.

Workers and bystandersStated

Teaching, inspection and maintenance work inside the operating range is the regulated moment, because that is where people are hurt.e-Gov, Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health, Ordinance of the Ministry of Labour No. 32 of 1972, primary source, 15 September 2026.

The AI inside itSilent

The text addresses unexpected operation and mistaken operation and says nothing about a controller that learns.e-Gov, Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health, Ordinance of the Ministry of Labour No. 32 of 1972, primary source, 15 September 2026.

Selling into a Japanese factory means your customer carries specific, old and enforceable duties: procedures for teaching, an immediate stop within reach, guarding during operation and a locked start switch for maintenance. Design your robot so those duties are easy to meet and document them in the manual, because the employer, not you, is the one inspected.

1. e-Gov, Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health, Ordinance of the Ministry of Labour No. 32 of 1972Primary · 15 September 2026

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