The risk of death and severe injury is particularly high in such diverse areas as home and leisure, road traffic,workplaces and community violence. Accidents and injuries are estimated to be a major source of chronic disability in all ages, leading to an enormous loss of prime years of good health and a significant loss of quality of life. National estimates indicate that up to one-tenth of disability-related retirements and sick leave days are caused by injuries. Beyond the great personal suffering and the huge financial burden to health-care and welfare systems, injuries often affect the whole family, emotionally, structurally and financially.

EuroSafe builds on the foundation of the former ECOSA by bringing together the diverse injury areas and profiling the overall burden of injury and the challenges tosafety promotion within national and European policies.

Injuries can be prevented!

In the past few decades we have been relatively successful in Europe in increasing industrial safety, chemical safety and the safety of motorised transportation. However, we can still be more effective in reducing the huge toll of accidents and injuries to society because:

• There is ample evidence of effective prevention measures that are still not widely applied throughout the European region;
• Many of these measures have also been proven to be cost effective, and the benefits of preventing injuries often outweigh the cost of safety measures by up to10 times;
• Even in countries with a good track record with respect to safety, there remain ample opportunities for further improvements and health gains, as too often injury risks are unevenly distributed and, in particular, affect vulnerable groups and communities.