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Accident
An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that
was not directly caused by humans.[1] The term accident
implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have
been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most
researchers who study unintentional injury avoid using the
term accident and focus on factors that increase risk of severe
injury and that reduce injury incidence and severity.[2] For
example, when a tree falls down during a wind storm, its fall
may not have been caused by humans, but the tree's type, size, Sinking of RMS Titanic Which is
health, location, or improper maintenance may have most deadliest maritime accident
contributed to the result. Most car wrecks are not true
accidents; however English speakers started using that word in
the mid-20th century as a result of media manipulation by the US automobile industry.[3]

Types

Physical and non-physical

Physical examples of accidents include unintended motor

vehicle collisions, tongue biting while eating, electric shock by
accidentally touching bare electric wire, drowning, falls, being Unintentional injury deaths per
injured by touching something sharp or hot, or bumping into million persons in 2012
something while walking. 107–247
248–287
Non-physical examples are unintentionally revealing a secret or
288–338
otherwise saying something incorrectly, accidental deletion of
339–387
data, or forgetting an appointment.
388–436
437–505

Accidents by activity 506–574

575–655
Accidents during the execution of work or arising out of it 656–834
are called work accidents. According to the International 835–1,165
Labour Organization (ILO), more than 337 million accidents
happen on the job each year, resulting, together with
occupational diseases, in more than 2.3 million deaths annually.[4]
In contrast, leisure-related accidents are mainly sports injuries.

Accidents by vehicle

Vehicle collisions are not usually accidents; they are mostly caused by preventable causes such as
drunk driving and intentionally driving too fast.[3] The use of the word accident to describe car
wrecks was promoted by the US National Automobile Chamber of Commerce in the middle of the
20th century, as a way to make vehicle-related deaths and injuries seem like an unavoidable matter
of fate, rather than a problem that could be addressed.[3] The automobile industry accomplished

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this by writing customized articles as a free service for

newspapers that used the industry's preferred language.[3]
Since 1994, the US National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration has asked media and the public to not use the
word accident to describe vehicle collisions.[3]

Aviation
Bicycles Versailles rail accident in 1842
Sailing ships
Traffic collisions
Train wrecks
Trams

Domino effect accidents

In the process industry, a primary accident may propagate to nearby units, resulting in a chain of
accidents, which is called domino effect accident.

Common causes
Poisons, vehicle collisions and falls are the most
common causes of fatal injuries. According to a 2005
survey of injuries sustained at home, which used data
from the National Vital Statistics System of the
United States National Center for Health Statistics,
falls, poisoning, and fire/burn injuries are the most
common causes of death.[5]

The United States also collects statistically valid

injury data (sampled from 100 hospitals) through the
National Electronic Injury Surveillance System Incidence of accidents (of a severity of resulting
administered by the Consumer Product Safety in seeking medical care), sorted by activity (in
Commission.[6] This program was revised in 2000 to Denmark in 2002)
include all injuries rather than just injuries involving
products.[6] Data on emergency department visits is
also collected through the National Health Interview Survey.[7] In The U.S. the Bureau of Labor
Statistics has available on their website extensive statistics on workplace accidents.[8]

Accident models
Many models to characterize and analyze accidents have been proposed,[10] which can be classified
by type. No single model is the sole correct approach.[11] Notable types and models include:[12]

Sequential models

Domino Theory[9]
Loss Causation Model[13]
Complex linear models

Energy Damage Model[14]

Time sequence models
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Generalized Time Sequence Model[15]

Accident Evolution and Barrier Function[16]
Epidemiological models
Gordon 1949
Onward Mappings Model based on Resident
Pathogens Metaphor[17]
Process model
Benner 1975
Systemic models Accident triangles have been
proposed to model the number of
Rasmussen minor problems vs. the number of
Reason Model of System Safety (embedding the Swiss serious incidents. These include
cheese model) Heinrich's triangle[9] and Frank E.
Bird's accident ratio triangle
Healthcare error proliferation model
(proposed in 1966 and shown
Human reliability
above).
Woods, 1994
Non-linear models
System accident[18]
Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Process (STAMP)[19]
Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM (https://functionalresonance.com/))[20]
Assertions that all existing models are insufficient[21]

Ishikawa diagrams are sometimes used to illustrate root-cause analysis and five whys discussions.

See also

General
Accident analysis
Root cause analysis
Accident-proneness
Idiot-proof
Injury
Injury prevention
List of accidents and disasters by death toll
Safety
Safety engineering
Fail-safe
Poka-yoke
Risk management

Transportation
Air safety

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Aviation accidents and incidents

Bicycle safety
Car
Automobile safety
Traffic collision
List of rail accidents
Tram accident
Sailing ship accidents

Other specific topics

Aisles: Safety and regulatory considerations
Explosives safety
Nuclear and radiation accidents
Occupational safety and health
Safety data sheet
Personal protective equipment
Criticality accident
Sports injury

References
1. Woodward, Gary C. (2013). The Rhetoric of Intention in Human Affairs (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=ce_WAAAAQBAJ). Lexington Books. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-7391-7905-5. "Since
'accidents' by definition deprive us of first-order human causes…"
2. Robertson, Leon S. (2015). Injury Epidemiology: Fourth Edition (http://www.nanlee.net/). Lulu
Books. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20180126185850/http://www.nanlee.net/) from
the original on 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
3. Stromberg, Joseph (2015-07-20). "We don't say "plane accident." We shouldn't say "car
accident" either" (https://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/8995151/crash-not-accident). Vox. Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20210907052859/https://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/8995151/crash-
not-accident) from the original on 2021-09-07. Retrieved 2021-09-07.
4. "ILO Safety and Health at Work (http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/safety-and-health-at-work/lang-
-en/index.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220119054051/https://www.ilo.org/glob
al/topics/safety-and-health-at-work/lang--en/index.htm) 2022-01-19 at the Wayback Machine".
International Labour Organization (ILO)
5. Runyan CW, Casteel C, Perkis D, et al. (January 2005). "Unintentional injuries in the home in
the United States Part I: mortality". Am J Prev Med. 28 (1): 73–9.
doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2004.09.010 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.amepre.2004.09.010).
PMID 15626560 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15626560).
6. CPSC. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) (https://www.cpsc.gov/en/Safet
y-Education/Safety-Guides/General-Information/National-Electronic-Injury-Surveillance-System
-NEISS/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20130313071450/http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Safet
y-Education/Safety-Guides/General-Information/National-Electronic-Injury-Surveillance-System
-NEISS/) 2013-03-13 at the Wayback Machine. Database query available through: NEISS
Injury Data (https://www.cpsc.gov/en/Research--Statistics/NEISS-Injury-Data/) Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20130423073415/http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Research--Statistics/NEISS-
Injury-Data/) 2013-04-23 at the Wayback Machine.

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7. NCHS. Emergency Department Visits (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/ervisits.htm) Archived

(https://web.archive.org/web/20170711015731/https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/ervisits.htm)
2017-07-11 at the Wayback Machine. CDC.
8. "Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities" (http://www.bls.gov/iif). www.bls.gov. Archived (https://web.ar
chive.org/web/20190602190845/https://www.bls.gov/iif/) from the original on 2019-06-02.
Retrieved 2014-04-02.
9. H.W. Heinreich (1931). Industrial Accident Prevention. McGraw-Hill.
10. A long list of books and papers is given in: Taylor, G.A.; Easter, K.M.; Hegney, R.P. (2004).
Enhancing Occupational Safety and Health (https://archive.org/details/enhancingoccupat00tayl
_968). Elsevier. pp. 241 (https://archive.org/details/enhancingoccupat00tayl_968/page/n259)–
245, see also pp. 140–141, 147–153, also on Kindle. ISBN 0750661976.
11. Kjellen, Urban; Albrechtsen, Eirik (2017). Prevention of Accidents and Unwanted Occurrences:
Theory, Methods, and Tools in Safety Management, Second Edition (https://books.google.com/
books?id=wW9GDgAAQBAJ). CRC Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-4987-3666-4.
12. Yvonne Toft; Geoff Dell; Karen K Klockner; Allison Hutton (2012). "Models of Causation:
Safety". In HaSPA (Health and Safety Professionals Alliance) (ed.). OHS Body of Knowledge (h
ttp://www.ohsbok.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/32-Models-of-causation-Safety.pdf)
(PDF). Safety Institute of Australia Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9808743-1-0. Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20170225133142/http://www.ohsbok.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/32-Models-of
-causation-Safety.pdf) (PDF) from the original on 2017-02-25. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
13. Bird, Frank E.; Germain, George L. (1985). Practical Loss Control Leadership. International
Loss Control Institute. ISBN 978-0880610544. OCLC 858460141 (https://www.worldcat.org/ocl
c/858460141).
14. Gibson, Haddon, Viner
15. Viner
16. Svenson, Ola (September 1991). "The Accident Evolution and Barrier Function (AEB) Model
Applied to Incident Analysis in the Processing Industries". Risk Analysis. 11 (3): 499–507.
doi:10.1111/j.1539-6924.1991.tb00635.x (https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1539-6924.1991.tb0063
5.x). PMID 1947355 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1947355).
17. Reason, James T. (1991). "Too Little and Too Late: A Commentary on Accident and Incident
Reporting". In Van Der Schaaf, T.W.; Lucas, D.A.; Hale, A.R. (eds.). Near Miss Reporting as a
Safety Tool. Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 9–26.
18. Perrow, Charles (1984). Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies. Basic Books.
ISBN 978-0465051434.
19. Leveson, Nancy (April 2004). "A new accident model for engineering safer systems". Safety
Science. 42 (4): 237–270. doi:10.1016/S0925-7535(03)00047-X (https://doi.org/10.1016%2FS0
925-7535%2803%2900047-X).
20. Hollnagel, 2012
21. Dekker 2011

External links

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