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This paper describes the study design and gives the first results of a project in which occupational accidents related to permanent means of access -stairs, stepladders and working platforms -are investigated carefully. The study began on the 1st of June 1998 and is planned to be continued at least for five years to get enough cases for statistical analysis. The results of the first twelve months are reported.Routine investigation of nonfatal accidents (and statistic data obtained from these investigations) in Finland is not accurate enough to inform us about the role of access systems regarding safety on industrial sites. For example, after falling on stairs a worker might say "1 was just busy", even if the cause of falling actually was a structural deviation of the lowest step. The statement of the worker may end up in statistics and the real cause of falling may remain undiscovered. The purpose of this study is to find out the effect of access systems upon safety in industrial workThe investigation is carried out in two industrial sites in Finland. The first site is a forest industry area (FJA) with severa1 units located in Oulu in northern Finland. The Paper mill, pulp mill and energy plant are located in the same area. There is also a separate company providing maintenance service for the units mentioned above. Together these four units employ 1500 workers. The second site involved in the study is a large steel mill (SM) with 3500 workers in Raahe at the west coast of Finland.Each accident is investigated using a standardised investigation method developed during the project. Workers are interviewed and the circumstances of the accidents are described verbally and photographed. If necessary, witnesses of the accidents are interviewed. Special attention is drawn to the design of access systems involved in the accidents. Hand rails, slope angles, treads, risers etc. are measured and analysed to find clues of the most hazardous mistakes in design.Altogether ten accidents related to access systems occurred during the first year at the FIA, which is around 13 % of all accidents. The figures for the SM are 19 and 8 %, respectively. It must be kept in mind that the amount of cases is very small for the time being, which implies that mere chance could affect the results to some extent.The accidents were evenly distributed tlrroughout the year. An interesting observation is that the appearance of snow and ice in autumn did not increase the amount of access systems related accidents. One explanation for this may be the fact that many stairs and working platforms are made of steel grate, which to some extent prevents accumulation of snow and ice on the walking surface. On the other hand, snow or ice covered surface is easily recognised as unsafe. Consequently, the behaviour of pedestrians becomes more cautious.More than half of all investigated accidents occurred between 7am and midday, when the amount of workers at industrial sites is highest. TIle note is that many of these accidents were related to traffic between w...