We collected and analyzed reports of accidents over a four-year period at a Japanese university. Focusing on accidents resulting from contact with chemical substances among accidents in academic research, we found that accident victims were more likely to be in biology,physics, or other non-chemistry fields relative to chemistry-related fields, and that the number of accident reports tended to increase among those with more research experience. In addition, of the accidents involving the handling of chemical substances, 58.2% of the total cases resulting in accidents involved the use of chemical substances as tools in the experimental process, rather than being the actual subject of the research. These results show that today's advanced research is closely related to the use of chemical substances as tools,underscoring a need for the understanding of the hazardous properties of chemical substances through basic education about chemical substances and ongoing accident prevention efforts in academic research. The use of chemical substances as tools in experimental research was found to be closely related to a decline in risk perception, and investigation of this mechanism should contribute to future safety education efforts.