[Is Swiss national accident data useful for epidemiological studies if the latter is intended for validating preventive measures?]

In the general frame of an inquiry concerning the development of occupational health in Switzerland and its forthcoming place inside the Swiss health system, data on accidents were communicated to us by the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund. In this paper, the question is raised whether those data may be effectively submitted to the epidemiological analysis in order to quantify the accident risk and to validate preventive measures. Results will be presented in a subsequent article.