There will always be risk/development tradeoff. You can play with the balance but the only way to bring it to zero is to stop development.
That's not to say that improvements can't be made. The real question is how many of the injuries and deaths were preventable by following the guidelines that already exist, and are generally followed but not perfectly followed.
I agree. If the majority of your business and industry is following the safety standards, then it shouldn't cost much time to increase compliance in a rare few occasions.
This is why I don't think the argument that development is too fast holds water.
On the other hand, if the company were flagrantly ignoring safety standards in their process, yes, it would slow it down.
That's not to say that improvements can't be made. The real question is how many of the injuries and deaths were preventable by following the guidelines that already exist, and are generally followed but not perfectly followed.