Citation

Purswell JL, Rumar K. J. Occup. Accid. 1984; 6(1-3): 214-215.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1984, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purswell, J.L. and Rumar, K., 1984. Occupational accident research: where have we been and where are we going? Journal of Occupational Accidents, 6: 219-228.The purpose of this paper is to try to evaluate and highlight the International Seminar on Occupational Accident Research held in Saltsjobaden, Sweden, in 1983. Initially a background is given in terms of the development of studies of occupational accidents in recent decades. Accident statistics -- the basis for all accident studies -- are discussed in relation to both a previous seminar, held in Sweden in 1975, and to the future.The question of whether occupational safety should try to find one model, a uniform methodology, is discussed but not resolved. The problems of validity, reliability and countermeasure evaluation deserve and have received considerable attention during the seminar. The most obvious change from the 1975 seminar was found to be the proportion of authors concentrating on finding effective countermeasures. In the near future we shall probably see further research to guide employers and lawmakers in their efforts to change the working environment, more standardization in terminology and statistics, a convergence concerning methods used, more interest in cost effectiveness studies and a further closing of the gap between research and application.