This paper deals with the question to what extent various factors, suggested in the literature, can be identified as contributory to the occurrence of accidents with consumer products. Data have been gathered in an on-site investigation of accidents. Contributory factors taken into consideration in the method of data collection include characteristics of the use actions, the product, the situation and the user. The explorative study revealed that the relevance of the various contributory factors is limited. This would imply that the development of general guidelines for the anticipation of accidents in the design of everyday products is seriously hampered.
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