Associate Professor Haruhiko Inada of the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine and Professor Masao Ichikawa of the University of Tsukuba's School of Medicine analyzed national fire data from 1998 to 2017 and found that in 2011 it was necessary to make lighters inoperable by children. It was found that the number of fires caused by playing with fire has decreased since this became mandatory.
According to the University of Tokyo and other organizations, the research group received and analyzed nationwide fire data from 13 to 1998 on fires caused by children under 2017 playing with fire, provided by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.As a result, in 2011, when it became mandatory to make lighters inaccessible to children, they found that the number of fires thought to be caused by playing with fire has decreased over the years immediately after the ban on the sale of lighters.
By 2017, it was estimated that the number of fires had decreased by 2,986 due to the sales ban.Previous research in the United States has already shown that banning the sale of fires significantly reduces the number of fires, but the fact that the decline continues for several years is a new finding.
The research group believes that it took several years for the traditional lighters that were on the market before the ban to be consumed.For this reason, in countries where new laws and regulations will be introduced in the future, even greater effects can be achieved by collecting conventional lighters in the market at the same time as the new laws and regulations are introduced.
Paper information:[Fire Safety Journal] Change in the incidence of fires after prohibiting sales of non-child-resistant lighters
