Safety in sawmills: hazards, EU rules and practical risk control

A sawmill combines heavy, moving material, high-energy cutting tools, long conveyor lines, fine combustible dust and continuous noise under one roof. This article walks through what open statistics say about accidents, how the main hazards work, what the European Union legal framework requires, and how a small mill can turn all of it into routine practice. Every figure and legal statement below was read on the cited page on 26 October 2026 and is tied to a country, region or year. Our own reading is labelled "Interpretation"; unverified points are marked and listed at the end.

Key points

• Manufacturing accounts for the largest share of non-fatal EU accidents at work (18.3% in 2024, Eurostat).
• HSE (UK) says the sawmilling major injury rate is over two and a half times that of general manufacturing (undated page).
• The EU binding limit for hardwood dust (inhalable fraction) has been 2 mg/m3 since January 2023, down from 3 mg/m3.
• Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 on machinery applies from 20 January 2027 and replaces Directive 2006/42/EC.
• Wood dust is both a health hazard and an explosion hazard; both need attention.

What the open statistics show

The EU picture

Eurostat's European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) are the common reference for EU-wide comparisons. According to the Eurostat "Accidents at work statistics" article, the EU recorded about 2.78 million non-fatal accidents at work in 2024, 43,742 (1.5%) fewer than in 2023, and 3,367 fatal accidents, 45 (1.4%) more than in 2023. Simple incidence rates were 1.65 fatal and 1,359 non-fatal accidents per 100,000 employed people.

Source: Eurostat, Statistics Explained, "Accidents at work statistics" (EU, 2024 data), opened 26 October 2026.

The article does not break out wood or furniture manufacturing, and we could not open the ESAW database tables for wood products (NACE C16), so no EU wood-sector rate is quoted. (Unverified.)

A second Eurostat article on causes and circumstances gives EU figures for 2023 that help explain what kinds of events dominate. These are all-sector numbers, not sawmill numbers:

Source: Eurostat, Statistics Explained, "Accidents at work - statistics on causes and circumstances" (EU, 2023), opened 26 October 2026. Contact mode and deviation are different classification variables; the rows are shown together only for convenience.

Interpretation: losing control of a machine or tool, being struck by something moving, and being trapped or crushed describe, in generic terms, exactly what happens when a hand meets a blade, a log rolls, or a person is drawn into a conveyor. These categories are not sawmill-specific, but they match the hazard profile discussed below.

Germany

Germany's accident insurance system publishes annual statistics through the DGUV (German Social Accident Insurance). Its figures for 2025, for the statutory insurance of the commercial economy and of the public sector combined, show 730,573 reportable work accidents (754,660 in 2024, a fall of 3.19%), 328 fatal work accidents (345 in 2024) and 16.68 reportable accidents per 1,000 full-time equivalents (17.27 in 2024).

Source: DGUV, "Arbeits- und Wegeunfallgeschehen", Germany, 2025 data, opened 26 October 2026. No BG Holz und Metall (BGHM) wood-specific breakdown could be opened, so none is quoted. (Unverified.)

What the DGUV Fachbereich Holz und Metall (the expert committee for wood and metal) does say, on its sawmill industry page, is useful for structure: accidents at sawmill machinery often cause very severe injuries ("sehr schwere Verletzungen"); the safety concepts deserve special attention for fault clearance and maintenance; machines should be designed so that protective devices are not tempting to bypass; and CE conformity must be re-examined for linked plants and after conversions. The page lists a series of sawmill publications (DGUV Information 209-034 to 209-040, covering frame and band sawmills, log yard, side products, sorting and stacking, and waste disposal), plus 209-044 (wood dust) and 209-045 (extraction systems and silos).

Poland

Poland's central statistics office (GUS) publishes yearly work-accident data. A trade article (Inzynier Budownictwa, 29 May 2025) reports preliminary GUS data for 2024: 66,300 injured people (68,663 in 2023), 200 fatal accidents (168 in 2023), about 500 seriously injured, and a rate of 4.80 injured per 1,000 workers. Manufacturing had a rate of 7.56 per 1,000, the third-highest among sectors after mining and extraction (17.48) and water supply and waste management (12.93). The data were preliminary and the GUS page itself could not be fetched, so treat them as provisional. (Partly unverified.)

For wood processing specifically, a 2018 article in the legal daily Rzeczpospolita, citing the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP), states that in 2010-2014 in wood-processing plants (sawmill products and wood products) 508 people were injured, 51 were killed and 257 suffered serious injuries. The same article reports a PIP campaign of 1,193 inspections at 1,164 workplaces employing about 26,000 people, mostly micro and small firms (51% up to 9 employees, 42% with 10-49).

The article also records PIP's main causes of non-compliance, useful as a management checklist: economic considerations placed ahead of safety; safety services that did not function well (external specialists often limited to training and paperwork); limited knowledge of hazards and minimum machine requirements; difficulty hiring experienced workers; weak supervision with no systematic checks of machine maintenance; and tolerance of hazards.

Source: Rzeczpospolita (pro.rp.pl), "W tartaku i stolarni moze byc bezpiecznie", 19 July 2018, reporting PIP data for Poland, 2010-2014. This is a secondary report of a primary PIP source we could not open (the PIP site returned a bot-verification page). The data are old; use them for pattern recognition, not as current rates. (Unverified against the primary source.)

The United Kingdom and the United States, for contrast

The UK is outside the EU, but HSE's sawmill guidance is one of the most detailed public sources for the sector. HSE's sawmills page states that "for many years, the sawmill industry had a poor safety record", that sawmilling's major injury rate is "over two and a half times that of general manufacturing", and that there is "an average of one fatality every year". It names five high-risk activities: cleaning band saw blades or pulleys, stacking round and sawn timber, guarding power-operated cross-cut saws, managing site transport, and lock-out procedures when interrupting mechanised processes, for example when freeing jammed timber. Machinery accidents "remain one of the major causes of injury". The page is undated and no reference year is given for the rate, so it should be read as qualitative. HSE's guide HSG172 (2012, revised from 1997) notes that safety has improved but the industry remains high-risk and that automation has increased injuries from operators intervening in machinery.

In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) describes sawmill hazards as massive weights and falling, rolling or sliding logs, improperly used or unguarded woodworking machines (lacerations, amputations, severed fingers, blindness), and wood dust and finishing chemicals that may cause skin and respiratory disease. OSHA's page gives no statistics. We did not obtain a current US Bureau of Labor Statistics rate for sawmills, so we make no numerical US comparison. (Unverified.)

Interpretation: the descriptive pattern is consistent across countries even though the numbers are not comparable (different definitions, years and denominators): severe cases cluster around machinery intervention, material handling and stacking, and energy control.

Machine hazards

Saws, kickback and the point of operation

Sawmill machines range from log-yard equipment and debarkers through band saws, frame saws and profilers to trimmers and cross-cut saws. The hazards share a common logic: a powerful tool, a moving workpiece, and a person who must occasionally reach into the working area to feed, clear, adjust or clean.

Kickback illustrates how a seemingly routine cut becomes an accident. OSHA's woodworking e-tool says kickbacks occur "when a saw seizes the stock and hurls it back at the operator". Its causes include wood that twists and binds against the blade, dull blades or blades at the wrong height, poor lumber (frozen wood, many knots, nails), ripping parallel to the grain, deep cuts and feeding boards of mixed thickness. Its controls are engineering ones (spreaders, anti-kickback fingers on both sides of the blade) and work practices (sharp, balanced blades, working guards, rejecting stock with cracks or knots, avoiding deep cuts, standing to the side after feeding).

HSE's guidance on circular saw benches (rip saws) gives concrete settings that show what "guarded" means in practice (UK guidance; check your national and machine-specific rules): the riving knife should be fitted and set within 8 mm of the blade, thicker than the saw plate but thinner than the cut width; the top guard should cover the gullet behind the blade tooth; the fence overlap with the blade should be no more than 18 mm; the take-off table should extend at least 1,200 mm from the spindle to its rear edge; push sticks should be at least 450 mm long and be used for the last 300 mm of every cut. These are HSE figures, not EU harmonised requirements; rely on the machine manufacturer's instructions and local rules.

Band saws and cross-cut saws

HSE singles out cleaning band saw blades or pulleys and guarding power-operated cross-cut saws as high-risk activities. Interpretation: in both cases the hazard appears in maintenance or "quick fix" mode rather than the normal run cycle, when guards are open, hands are close and stored energy (a coasting blade, a hydraulic accumulator) can still move.

Conveyors, sorting and stacking

Conveyors, infeeds, sorting lines and stackers are the connective tissue of a mill. Hazards include drawing-in at rollers and chains, shearing between moving timber packs and fixed structures, falls from walkways, and entanglement of clothing. The DGUV sawmill page treats the transport and conveying equipment and the sorting and stacking systems as separate topic areas, with dedicated publications (for example DGUV Information 209-039 on lumber sorting and stacking), which tells us that the sector regards these as distinct problem zones and not as an afterthought to the saws. HSE names stacking of round and sawn timber as one of its five high-risk activities, and also site transport.

Mobile equipment belongs in the same discussion: loaders and forklifts share lanes with pedestrians, and HSE lists site transport among its top activities. Interpretation: typical controls are traffic separation, marked pedestrian routes and trained, authorised drivers.

Falling and rolling logs

OSHA names falling, rolling and sliding logs as a major hazard. Interpretation: log decks, sloped yards and unrestrained stacks should be handled with chocks, stable stack geometry and exclusion zones, and the same logic extends to sawn-timber packs and to chip or bark trailers where fall-from-height can arise.

Lockout and tagout: controlling stored energy

Jam clearing and maintenance are where guards come off and where fatal accidents are often located. HSE says lock-out procedures for interrupting mechanised production, such as freeing jammed timber, are "still a problem area". The DGUV sawmill page makes the same point from the design side by highlighting safety concepts for fault clearance and maintenance.

The terminology differs by region. In the United States, OSHA's standard 29 CFR 1910.147, "The Control of Hazardous Energy", is commonly called lockout/tagout. NIOSH states that employers must periodically inspect their written energy control procedures and that the inspection "must be performed at least once annually" under 29 CFR 1910.147(c)(6). The NIOSH page also notes that compliance is determined solely by the regulation itself, not by NIOSH guidance. We were not able to open the OSHA text of the standard itself in this session, so we quote only what NIOSH reproduces.

In the EU we could not cite a single directive with the same title; the relevant pieces are the employer duties for work equipment (Directive 2009/104/EC), the Framework Directive's risk assessment duty and machinery design requirements. We did not open Annex I of the Machinery Directive on energy isolation. (Unverified.)

Interpretation: a practical programme has this skeleton:

1. For each machine, write a short isolation procedure: which isolators, in what order, how stored energy (gravity, hydraulic, pneumatic, inertia) is released or blocked, and how isolation is verified.
2. Provide personal locks and tags, lockable isolators where people work, and group lockout for lines several people enter.
3. Train and re-train, and have supervisors check that jam-clearing is never done "just quickly" with the saw running.
4. Review procedures at least annually and after any near miss, as the US rule requires.

Noise and hearing loss

Sawmills are loud. A study published in the journal Drvna industrija (Greece, 2014, V. Dimou) measured noise in three sawmills and found that production areas were noisier than warehouses and offices and that levels "significantly exceed maximum permissible levels"; it reports that the highest levels were produced by cutting machinery. It recommends hearing protectors or breaks, and noise reduction at source or along the transmission path. The measured dB(A) values were not on the page we opened. (Unverified.)

The EU framework is Directive 2003/10/EC on noise. The text of its Article 3, as hosted on the UK legislation website (the version in force at the time the UK left the EU, which reproduces the EU directive), sets:

Source: Directive 2003/10/EC, Article 3(1), via legislation.gov.uk, opened 26 October 2026. Under Article 3(2), the effect of hearing protectors is taken into account when applying the exposure limit values but not the exposure action values. Check your own national transposition for any stricter values.

Interpretation: because a hearing protector only counts against the limit value and not against the action values, the legal logic is that noise should first be reduced at source (quieter blades, enclosed chippers and debarkers, damped chutes, cabins for operators, maintenance of bearings and guards), and protectors are the last layer. HSE lists high noise levels among the main sawmill problem areas.

Wood dust: a carcinogen and a sensitiser

The EU limit

Directive (EU) 2017/2398 amended the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive 2004/37/EC. According to the European Parliament's Legislative Observatory summary, the limit value for exposure to hardwood dust is set at 3 mg/m3 until 17 January 2023 and at 2 mg/m3 thereafter. The directive is dated 12 December 2017; the transposition deadline is 17 January 2020. The EUR-Lex metadata page we opened gives the publication date as 27 December 2017 and the first entry into force as 16 January 2018. (The Legislative Observatory summary says 16 January 2017 for entry into force, which looks like a typo; we follow EUR-Lex for that date and flag the discrepancy.)

A Polish article from CIOP-PIB (Central Institute for Labour Protection, 2021, Poland) gives the same 3 mg/m3 to 2 mg/m3 step, applies the value to the inhalable fraction, and states that the 2 mg/m3 value applies from 18 January 2023 (the Legislative Observatory summary says "after 17 January 2023"; the difference of one day is a matter of wording and we could not settle it from the primary text). It further states that where hardwood dust is mixed with other wood dust, the limit covers all wood dust in the mixture, that wood dust is classed as a carcinogen, and that the "A" notation reflects sensitising potential. It also reports that hardwood dust exceeded the limit in over 20% of measurements in Poland between 2001 and 2005.

Interpretation: because mixed dust is judged against the hardwood value, mills that process both species should plan their extraction against 2 mg/m3 rather than splitting the dust by species.

Source: European Parliament Legislative Observatory summary of Directive (EU) 2017/2398; CIOP-PIB (Poland, 2021); HSE, "Wood dust" (UK), opened 26 October 2026. The UK values apply in Great Britain and are shown for contrast.

Health effects and control

HSE states that wood dust can cause asthma (carpenters and joiners are four times more likely to get it than other UK workers) and that hardwood dust can cause cancer, particularly of the nose. Its advice includes local exhaust ventilation (LEV) at each woodworking machine designed around the machines and the workshop layout; examination of the LEV system by a competent person at least every 14 months; airflow indicators so that users can see that it is working; no sweeping or compressed-air cleaning, but industrial vacuums rated at least Class M; suitable, face-fitted masks for very dusty tasks such as sanding; and health surveillance with a baseline assessment, usually annual reviews, a questionnaire and spirometry. The "14 months" interval and "Class M" are HSE-specific, not EU numbers.

DGUV's wood section provides, for Germany, dedicated publications on wood dust (209-044) and on extraction systems and silos for dust and chips (209-045, 209-083 for silos). Interpretation: the common message is source capture first, housekeeping by vacuum, and measurement to prove it works.

Fire and explosion

Why wood dust is explosive

Wood dust is not only a health issue. CIOP-PIB's 2022 catalogue of wood dust explosion characteristics (Przybysz, Celinski and Mizera, Poland) tested birch, beech, oak, pine, spruce, alder and mixtures with particle sizes of 20-71 micrometres. Maximum explosion pressures were 7.5-8.2 bar and Kst values 175-253 bar m/s, which put most of the tested dusts in explosion class St 2 and a few (pine, alder, birch-alder) in St 1. Lower explosion limits were 30-50 g/m3. Minimum ignition energy was 10-30 mJ for pine and spruce and 30-100 mJ for the other dusts and mixtures. The minimum ignition temperature of a dust cloud ranged from 400 degrees Celsius (oak) to 495 degrees Celsius (spruce); for a dust layer it was 310-350 degrees Celsius. The authors conclude that the explosion characteristics, relatively low ignition temperatures and low ignition energy together create serious fire and explosion risk and call for organisational and design measures wherever an explosive atmosphere may occur.

Source: CIOP-PIB, "Wlasciwosci palne i charakterystyki wybuchu poszczegolnych pylow drewna", Catalogue 1, Poland, 2022 (Table 2). Laboratory values for fine fractions; real dust varies by moisture, particle size and species.

Real-world lessons

A Washington State (US) Department of Labor and Industries hazard alert from May 2012 describes devastating sawdust explosions at two British Columbia sawmills processing dry, beetle-killed wood. It notes that accumulations "as thin as a paper clip" can matter and that a pressure wave from a first blast can knock loose dust and cause a larger secondary explosion. Recommended controls include inspecting high and hidden surfaces such as beam tops, controlling ignition sources (hot surfaces, damaged wiring, static, friction from jammed machinery), keeping dust collectors outside buildings where possible, and bonding and grounding equipment.

The EU ATEX workplace framework

For the employer, the relevant EU instrument is Directive 1999/92/EC on minimum requirements for improving the health and safety of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres. In the text we opened (hosted on legislation.gov.uk):

• Article 3 requires technical and/or organisational measures in priority order: prevent the formation of explosive atmospheres, avoid their ignition, and mitigate the detrimental effects of an explosion.
• Article 7 requires the employer to classify places where explosive atmospheres may occur into zones using Annex I, and apply the Annex II minimum requirements there.
• Article 8 requires an explosion protection document, drawn up before work starts and revised after significant changes, showing that explosion risks have been identified and assessed, that adequate measures are taken, which places are classified, and that equipment and workplaces are designed, operated and maintained safely.
• Annex I defines dust zones: zone 20 (cloud present continuously, for long periods or frequently), zone 21 (likely to occur occasionally in normal operation) and zone 22 (not likely in normal operation and, if it occurs, short-lived). Layers, deposits and heaps of combustible dust must be treated as any other source that can form an explosive atmosphere.

Interpretation: in a sawmill, extraction ducts, filters and silos are the usual candidates for zone classification, while general housekeeping decides whether the rest of the building drifts toward zone 22 because of dust layers. Equipment used in classified zones must be suitable for them; the companion product directive for equipment in explosive atmospheres (2014/34/EU) was not opened for this article, so we do not describe its content. (Unverified.)

Kilns and other fire sources

Dry kilns and boilers combine heat, dust and ignition sources. No official kiln-fire document could be opened, so no kiln-specific figures are given. (Unverified.) The general principles above apply: avoid dust accumulation, control hot surfaces and friction, maintain electrical installations and document inspections.

Machinery safety rules

The employer's side: work equipment and the Framework Directive

Directive 2009/104/EC (adopted 16 September 2009) sets minimum safety and health requirements for the use of work equipment. According to the EU-OSHA summary, employers must make equipment safe for the workplace, reduce residual risks, keep equipment compliant through maintenance, allow modifications only by expert personnel, have competent persons inspect it (initial, periodic and special inspections) and keep the results, and give workers training and clear written instructions.

The Framework Directive 89/391/EEC (adopted 12 June 1989) is the parent text. EU-OSHA summarises its employer duties as: evaluate all risks, including equipment, chemicals and layout; combat risks at source; ensure adequate training; consult workers on new technologies; and impose no costs on workers.

The manufacturer's side: Machinery Directive and Regulation

Directive 2006/42/EC on machinery was adopted on 17 May 2006. EU-OSHA's summary states that the manufacturer or authorised representative must ensure that a risk assessment is carried out for the machinery and that the design reflects its results, that the CE marking is the only marking guaranteeing conformity, and that a technical construction file must be prepared.

Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 replaces the Directive. According to EU-OSHA: "The Regulation applies from 20 January 2027." The requirements for notified bodies apply from 20 January 2024. It clarifies concepts such as incomplete machinery and substantial modification, and extends coverage to autonomous mobile machinery, connected equipment and AI-based safety functions. EU-OSHA's page describes the Directive as repealed by the Regulation, which applies from 20 January 2027; Interpretation: machinery placed on the market before that date is assessed under the Directive, and machinery placed on the market from that date under the Regulation, but readers should confirm the transitional provisions in the Regulation text, which we did not open.

A commercial consultancy article (IBF Solutions, last amended 27 July 2026) reports that a "digital omnibus" Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, published 24 July 2026, amends the Machinery Regulation in relation to AI provisions, with delegated acts to apply by 2 August 2028, and that it does not report any change to the 20 January 2027 date. Because this is a secondary, commercial source, we recommend checking the Official Journal before relying on it. (Partly unverified.)

What this means for a sawmill in practice (Interpretation):

• Ask suppliers which regime applies to new saws, conveyors and sorting lines and what the declaration of conformity covers.
• Linked lines and substantial modifications deserve special care. The DGUV sawmill page makes the related point that CE conformity must be re-examined for linked plants and after conversions. Removing a guard or adding a new infeed to an existing line can make the owner responsible for the conformity of the result.
• Tampering is a design and management issue: DGUV stresses designs that do not tempt bypassing; PIP points to weak supervision.

Personal protective equipment

Directive 89/656/EEC (adopted 30 November 1989) states that PPE is to be used when risks cannot be avoided or sufficiently limited by technical means of collective protection. The employer must provide appropriate equipment free of charge, organise training and demonstrate the use of the equipment, and inform workers of the measures to be taken. Typical sawmill PPE (our list; the sources do not enumerate it) is hearing, eye and face protection, respiratory protection where dust control is insufficient, safety footwear and high-visibility clothing around mobile equipment. Interpretation: PPE is the last line; where gloves or loose clothing risk entanglement, the assessment may justify prohibiting them at those machines.

Training and supervision

The Framework Directive requires adequate safety and health training, and Directive 2009/104/EC requires specific training for equipment that carries specific risks, as well as written instructions. PIP's list of causes of violations in Polish wood plants highlights limited knowledge of hazards and minimum machine requirements, particularly among those who trained on their own, and weak supervision. Interpretation: a mill's training should go beyond a one-off induction and include:

• machine-specific instruction by someone who knows the machine, repeated when the machine, the product or the process changes;
• practice of the isolation procedure for each jam-clearing task;
• supervisors trained to notice bypassed guards, and blame-free near-miss reporting.

Risk assessment: a practical sequence

The Framework Directive requires employers to evaluate all risks. The sequence below is our own synthesis, not taken from one source (Interpretation):

1. Map the process. List each zone: log yard, debarker, primary breakdown, edger and trimmer, sorting, stacking, kilns, planer, extraction, boiler and yard transport.
2. Identify hazards at each zone, including maintenance, cleaning and jam-clearing modes, not only normal running. Include noise, dust, fire and explosion, manual handling, work at height, vehicles and chemicals (such as wood preservatives).
3. Decide who might be harmed: operators, maintenance staff, drivers, contractors, visitors, new workers.
4. Evaluate severity and likelihood, noting existing controls and their weaknesses.
5. Apply the hierarchy: eliminate or substitute, engineer (guards, interlocks, enclosures, extraction), organise (procedures, zoning, rotation), and only then PPE. This matches Directive 89/656/EEC (PPE when collective protection is insufficient) and the principle of combating risks at source.
6. Record, assign owners and dates, and consult workers.
7. Review after accidents, near misses, machine changes, and at fixed intervals. Check explosion risk assessments and the explosion protection document at the same time.

A small-mill checklist

This checklist is our own synthesis from the sources above. It is not a legal compliance list. Adapt it to your country, machines and process.

Source: Our own synthesis from the sources in the list below. The "Basis" column names where the underlying statement was found.

Sources used

The full list of 28 sources with links is in the article metadata; all were opened on 26 October 2026. They comprise Eurostat, EU-OSHA, the European Parliament Legislative Observatory, EUR-Lex, legislation.gov.uk (Directives 2003/10/EC and 1999/92/EC), HSE (UK), OSHA and NIOSH (US), Washington State L&I, DGUV (Germany), Rzeczpospolita and Inzynier Budownictwa (reporting PIP and GUS data, Poland), CIOP-PIB (Poland), Dimou (2014) and IBF Solutions (2026).

Limits of this article

• This is general information, not legal advice or a compliance audit, and no substitute for national law, your competent authority or a qualified safety professional.
• All pages were opened on 26 October 2026; several are undated and may change.
• Unverified or incomplete points: wood-sector (NACE C16) ESAW incidence rates; BGHM wood-specific accident statistics; US BLS sawmill rates; the final (non-preliminary) GUS 2024 figures; primary PIP documents; the exact one-day difference between 17 and 18 January 2023 for the lower hardwood dust value; the entry-into-force date of Directive 2017/2398 (sources differ: 2018 per EUR-Lex, 2017 per the Legislative Observatory, the latter probably a typo); the transitional provisions of Regulation 2023/1230; Annex I of the Machinery Directive (energy isolation); Directive 2014/34/EU; kiln-specific fire data; measured noise levels in sawmills.
• Key Polish figures and the 2026 Machinery Regulation amendment come from secondary sources (Rzeczpospolita, Inzynier Budownictwa, IBF Solutions).
• Directive texts for 2003/10/EC and 1999/92/EC were read on the UK legislation website, which hosts the versions in force when the UK left the EU. Later EU amendments, if any, would not appear there.
• Statistics from Eurostat (EU), DGUV (Germany), GUS/PIP (Poland), HSE (UK) and OSHA/NIOSH (US) use different definitions, years and denominators and should not be compared directly.
• Items labelled "Interpretation", the control lists, the risk-assessment sequence and the small-mill checklist are our own synthesis, not quotations from the sources.