The school constitutes an environment of public-health concern since it is the location of occurrence of a major proportion of injuries sustained by children. This paper reviews a total of 42 empirical studies dealing with the determinants and characteristics of injuries to school pupils. On the basis of the review, a proposal is made for a specialized instrument (SIIR) dedicated to the analysis and registration of injuries and incidents at school. It addresses the 'who?', 'where?', and 'what?' questions usually posed in traditional instruments for injury surveillance but places far greater emphasis on the 'how?' and 'why?' questions of injury. SIIR enables the injury phenomenon to be subjected to greater scrutiny, and is designed to support preventive work at school level. For one school-year, it is also being employed for the creation of a data register for research and development purposes.