{"id":"48626f0a-3657-493b-a23e-e056d80ad49e","slug":"urada-kawasaki-robot-fatality-1981","kind":"fatality","headline":"Kenji Urada killed by industrial robot at Kawasaki Heavy Industries Akashi plant — first robot fatality in Japan (1981)","summary":"On July 4, 1981, Kenji Urada, a 37-year-old maintenance worker at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries plant in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, was killed by an industrial robot. Urada jumped over a safety barrier designed to shut down power to the machine, and apparently started the robot inadvertently. The robot, built by Kawasaki under license from Unimation, pinned him against an adjacent machine and crushed him. Other workers were unable to stop the machine as they were unfamiliar with its operation. The Hyōgo labor standards bureau investigation concluded workers were not sufficiently familiar with the machines and the machines were not sufficiently regulated.","occurredAt":"1981-07-04T00:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"unreviewed","modelId":"c503b12e-86b7-416f-b02f-ce698b492c2c","deploymentId":null,"companyId":null,"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"catastrophic","rootCauseCategory":"maintenance_deficiency","rootCauseDetail":null,"affectedUnitsCount":1,"affectedUnitsBasis":"exact","remediationStatus":"resolved","regulatoryAction":"other","regulatoryBody":"other","propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":"fatal","fatalityCount":1,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":1,"oshaRecordable":null,"oshaCaseNumber":null,"rootCauseDisclosed":null,"publicDisclosureDate":null,"insuranceClaimPublic":null,"formFactor":null,"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"autonomyClass":"not_applicable","legalOutcomeClass":"no_charges_reported","createdAt":"2026-07-22T00:33:10.607Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T00:39:23.881Z","model":{"id":"c503b12e-86b7-416f-b02f-ce698b492c2c","companyId":"2c9c5e7f-7fc8-4e31-b688-bb4f0c779c25","modelName":"Kawasaki RS020N","slug":"kawasaki-rs020n","description":"6-axis industrial robot with 20 kg payload and 1725 mm reach for material handling and assembly applications.","formFactor":"industrial_robot","industryVertical":"manufacturing","environment":"indoor","maturityStage":null,"lifecycleState":"active","supersededByModelId":null,"specs":{"dof":6,"axes":6,"reachMm":1725,"reach_m":1.725,"payloadKg":20,"weight_kg":230,"payload_kg":20,"repeatabilityMm":0.04},"manufacturerSerial":null,"reviewStatus":"reviewed","sources":[{"url":"https://www.kawasaki-rbt.co.jp/","title":"Kawasaki","date_accessed":"2026-06-07"},{"url":"https://kawasakirobotics.com/products-robots/rs020n/","title":"Kawasaki RS020N (re-verified primary source)"},{"url":"https://kawasakirobotics.com/products/industrial-robots/rs-series/rs020n/","title":"Kawasaki RS020N Product Page","sourceName":"Kawasaki RS020N Product Page"},{"url":"https://kawasakirobotics.com/asia-oceania/products-robots/rs020n/","title":"RS020N","sourceName":"Kawasaki Robotics (official)"}],"aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":"reverified 2026-06-09 (Kimi-incident remediation): re-sourced against a current resolving authoritative source (manufacturer/regulator/reputable); relevance confirmed.","manufacturerTermForTeleop":null,"keyFacts":[{"label":"Focus","value":"Japanese industrial robot manufacturer"},{"label":"Robot","value":"RS, BX, and duAro cobot series"},{"label":"Backers","value":"Part of Kawasaki Heavy Industries"},{"label":"Product","value":"RS020N 6-axis industrial robot (R series)"},{"label":"Notable","value":"First industrial robot manufacturer in Japan (1969)"},{"label":"Industry","value":"Industrial robotics, automation"}],"createdAt":"2026-06-08T00:44:56.056Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-15T13:21:56.269Z","unitsInFieldClaimed":null,"unitsInFieldVerified":null,"unitsManufacturedClaimed":null,"unitsManufacturedVerified":null,"unitsAsOf":null,"unitsSource":null,"salesModel":null,"priceUndisclosedSince":null,"autonomyClass":null,"autonomyStatement":null,"autonomyStatementSource":null,"demoForensics":null,"exportControlClass":null,"minCommitment":null,"warrantyTerms":null,"serviceModel":null,"productionRateClaimed":null,"productionRateEvidenced":null,"teleopRatioDisclosed":null,"interventionRateDisclosed":null},"deployment":null,"company":null,"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"894c98e5-c95c-465b-a49e-ae911f6f3a07","incidentId":"48626f0a-3657-493b-a23e-e056d80ad49e","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenji_Urada","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"Kenji Urada - Wikipedia","sourceName":"Wikipedia","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-22T00:33:11.434Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T00:33:11.434Z"},{"id":"ba580b5f-224b-4e84-bb85-ba05653373be","incidentId":"48626f0a-3657-493b-a23e-e056d80ad49e","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36850052/","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"Robot-related fatalities at work in the United States, 1992-2017 (Layne et al., 2023)","sourceName":"NIOSH/PubMed","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-22T00:57:01.925Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T00:57:01.925Z"},{"id":"d5cff400-a125-4124-bf9b-b8477948fba1","incidentId":"48626f0a-3657-493b-a23e-e056d80ad49e","url":"https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/12/08/Robot-kills-man/2127376635600/","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"Robot kills man — UPI Archives (Dec 8, 1981)","sourceName":"UPI (United Press International)","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-22T00:57:03.117Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T00:57:03.117Z"},{"id":"bd53f6f9-59a4-4d2e-b4e4-b504ab3e264b","incidentId":"48626f0a-3657-493b-a23e-e056d80ad49e","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/13/business/new-in-japan-the-manless-factory.html","label":null,"publishedAt":null,"notes":null,"title":"New in Japan: The Manless Factory — NYT (Dec 13, 1981)","sourceName":"The New York Times","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-22T00:57:03.912Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T00:57:03.912Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/urada-kawasaki-robot-fatality-1981","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/urada-kawasaki-robot-fatality-1981","headline":"Kenji Urada killed by industrial robot at Kawasaki Heavy Industries Akashi plant — first robot fatality in Japan (1981)","description":"On July 4, 1981, Kenji Urada, a 37-year-old maintenance worker at the Kawasaki Heavy Industries plant in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, was killed by an industrial robot. Urada jumped over a safety barrier designed to shut down power to the machine, and apparently started the robot inadvertently. The robot, built by Kawasaki under license from Unimation, pinned him against an adjacent machine and crushed him. Other workers were unable to stop the machine as they were unfamiliar with its operation. The Hyōgo labor standards bureau investigation concluded workers were not sufficiently familiar with the machines and the machines were not sufficiently regulated.","identifier":"48626f0a-3657-493b-a23e-e056d80ad49e","datePublished":"1981-07-04T00:00:00.000Z","articleSection":"fatality","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"},"author":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"unreviewed","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":4,"primary_source_types":["knowledge-base","primary-academic-peer-reviewed","secondary-established-publication"]}}}