In this paper the history of implementation of safety measures, and law systems related to safety management and their judgments at court in Japan are introduced. Characteristics and philosophy of construction safety management are then summarized. In practice of the safety management in Japan, achievement of zero accident has been recognized not only ideal but also a political goal. It has been the philosophy of safety management in Japan. However, some gap actually exists between ideal and reality. Insufficient public owner's consideration on safety is one of the reasons. Much efforts to lessen the gap are made at construction stage; however, important problems occur associated with conducting these efforts. To construct new philosophy, it becomes more important for each subcontractor, each worker, and a public owner as well as a prime contractor to develop his/her own safety management capability which can flexibly incorporate characteristics of each construction site.
