Better injury data needed for more effective consumer safety policies, says EuroSafe report.
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year, according to a report (1) published by EuroSafe (2) today. An annual average of 40
million people are being treated in hospitals across the EU after an injury event. One in ten
hospital beds are occupied by injury patients.
No fewer than 73% of these accidents and injuries happen at home or during leisure
activities, particularly affecting vulnerable groups such as the less well-off, children and
older people.
Wim Rogmans, secretary general of EuroSafe, says:
“In spite of these alarming statistics, only a few countries within the EU collect systematically
information on home and leisure injuries. As a result, the majority of health and consumer
protection authorities are in the dark as to how to prevent home and leisure accidents and to
reduce its ever rising burden on health care budgets”.
- There are great differences between countries in the number of fatal and hospital treated
for rolling out across the entire EU-region measures have proven effective elsewhere.
- The share of the older population in fatal accidents and non-fatal injuries is increasing over
the increasing share of those 75 years and above.
- Each year, a massive €78 billion is being spent on direct medical and rehabilitation costs as
EU-leadership needed:
In the fields of work safety and road safety, the need for injury information has been
acknowledged a while ago; dedicated reporting systems are in place which are also used at EUlevel.
This has resulted in increased political understanding and commitment to make roads and
work places safer.
As to safety at home and in leisure time, information about the huge number of cases treated in
hospitals does not exist in most of the countries. Therefore, a binding arrangement is needed for
all countries to collect data on home and leisure accidents. The EU-Regulation on Community
statistics on public health and health and safety at work (3) provides a legal framework for such
an agreement and emergency departments offer great opportunities for collecting such
information efficiently and at low cost.
EU-wide injury surveillance will empower national authorities and related safety agencies to make
a difference in preventing injuries and to enhance health and safety of European citizens.
End