It is commonly assumed that injuries can be prevented with the help of statistics. A good national occupational accident statistics system in an industrialized country - it is believed - will provide the basis for regulations and recommendations, and these will in turn decrease the number of occupational injuries and diseases in the land (EU-OSHA 2003).
However, looking back along the historic process of work environment improvement it is fair to say that the link between injury statistics and improved working conditions is conjectural. In a country like Sweden, with a reputation for massive work environment reform and several extensive occupational accident information systems, injury statistics have not really been utilized in applied injury prevention.
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