The purpose of the present study was to obtain data on the prevalent procedures for the safety preservation in the use of apparatuses and equipments in school physical education so as to make it serve for the formulation of objective policies on safety teaching and administration and also safety standards of apparatuses and equipments. Questionnaires were sent by mail to 1,794 public elementary, junior and senior high schools and received responses from 1,276 schools (64.9%). It was found that up to 85% of schools had injurious accidents in the last three years, those of which were mainly derived from using vaulting box, horizontal bar, tumbling mat and hurdle. Main causes for the injuries were carelessness of users, incomplete instruction on correct use and users' poor health and fitness. In most of the schools teachers were to attend to the place when apparatuses were used and also they were checked regularly or each time being used. Safety checking was made by physical education teachers. Manufacturers seldom participated in the safety checking. It was also found that booklets issued by the Nippon School Safety Association on case study and safety manual were not necessarily possessed by every school. Development of health and fitness had secondary emphasis in the most of schools' educational policies. In this report implications of these facts for the formulation of basic view-points on safety preservation in the use of apparatuses and equipments were discussed.

DESCENTE SPORTS SCIENCE Vol.3/THE DESCENTE AND ISHIMOTO MEMORIAL FOUNDATION FOR THE PROMOTION SPORTS SCIENCE