Robert Stephenson writes that all the accidents, the harms caused and the means used to repair the damage should be recorded for the benefit of the younger Members of Profession.
A faithful account of those accidents and the damage containment was really more valuable than the description of successful work.
Hence it is imperative that knowledge of risks will definitely help to attain better safety.
But it should be borne in mind, that still gaps remain, because
i) there are some industries where information is not freely shared and
ii) there are always new applications of old technology that render the available information less useful.