What is the Difference Between an Accident and an Incident?
In occupational health and safety lingo, the terms "accident" and "incident" may appear to be interchangeable - but they're not. An incident is any situation that unexpectedly arises in the workplace which has the potential to cause injury, damage or harm. An accident is actually an incident that resulted in someone being injured or damage being done to property.
As an example: If someone leaves a ladder leaning in a precarious position and it falls over without harming anyone or causing damage to the premises or to any items on the premises, that is an incident. If the ladder lands on someone when it falls over, causing injury to the person, that is an accident.
All work-related incidents need to be reported, but employers may have different forms for reporting injury accidents. And the responsibility for reporting an incident vs. reporting an accident may fall on different shoulders.
Although the word "accident" may imply something that is outside of our control, in fact most accidents are preventable, if people simply follow the occupational health and safety guidelines and policies adopted for their workplace. It is the employer's responsibility to educate and train employees in safety procedures, to reduce the number of incidents - and accidents - on the jobsite.