accident

[[File:Unintentional injuries world map-Deaths per million persons-WHO2012.svg|thumb|upright=1.3|Unintentional injury deaths per million persons in 2012, reported nationally:

{{Div col|small=yes|colwidth=10em}}{{legend|#ffff20|107–247}}{{legend|#ffe820|248–287}}{{legend|#ffd820|288–338}}{{legend|#ffc020|339–387}}{{legend|#ffa020|388–436}}{{legend|#ff9a20|437–505}}{{legend|#f08015|506–574}}{{legend|#e06815|575–655}}{{legend|#d85010|656–834}}{{legend|#d02010|835–1,165}}{{div col end}}

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Physical examples of accidents include unintended motor vehicle collisions, malfunctioning machinery, drowning, falling, or unintentional contact with something sharp or hot or electrified or poisonous (including drug overdoses).

Non-physical examples include unintentionally revealing a secret or otherwise saying something incorrectly, unwittingly deleting electronic data, or forgetting an appointment.

{{See also|Occupational safety and health}}

Accidents during the course of work, or arising out of it, are called work accidents, occupational accidents, or similar terms. According to the International Labour Organization, approximately 400 million accidents happen on the job each year (5% of the world population), causing more than 300,000 deaths annually (especially in mining and construction) and millions of long-term disabilities (especially back injuries).{{cite web |author=International Labour Organization |url=https://www.ilo.org/publications/call-safer-and-healthier-working-environments |title=A call for safer and healthier working environments |date=2023-11-26}}{{cite journal |first1=Jukka |last1=Takala |display-authors=etal |title=Global-, regional- and country-level estimates of the work-related burden of diseases and accidents in 2019 |journal=Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health |date=2024-03-01 |volume=50 |issue=2 |pages=73–82 |doi=10.5271/sjweh.4132 |pmid=37952241 |pmc=10927068}}

In contrast, leisure-related accidents are mainly sports injuries, with lower fatality rates.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

In process manufacturing, a primary accident (such as leakage, fire or explosion) may propagate to nearby units, resulting in an escalating chain of failure, which is often called a domino effect accident.

Commercial products sometimes emerge from accidental discoveries, famously including penicillin, Post-it notes, and microwave ovens. Injuries that occur during travel to or from employment are sometimes counted statistically as work accidents, but are usually classified separately as transportation accidents instead.

{{See also|Transport accident}}

File:ACRO fatalities.svg

{{Main|Aviation accidents and incidents}}

Aviation safety has improved dramatically through decades of concerted effort. Although individual crashes can have high fatality counts and widespread publicity, modern air travel has approximately just 1 fatal crash per 16 million commercial flights (as of 2024), or 1 death per 35 billion passenger-kilometers (22 billion miles), far better than historical rates, and generally the safest way to travel a given distance over land.{{cite web |url=https://www.iata.org/en/publications/safety-report/executive-summary/ |title=Annual Safety Report – 2024 |publisher=IATA |date=February 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/air-passenger-market-analysis-december-2024/ |title=Air Passenger Monthly Analysis – December 2024 |publisher=IATA |date=January 2025}} Airplane accidents occur most commonly during the landing process.{{cite web |url=https://www.statista.com/chart/31529/most-airplane-accidents-happen-during-landing/ |title=Most Airplane Accidents Happen During Landing |first=Martin |last=Armstrong |publisher=IATA/Statista |date=2024-01-09}}

{{Main|Bicycle safety|Motorcycle safety}}

Unenclosed two-wheel vehicles are more economical but less visible than the much larger cars and trucks on the road, and bikes offer their riders little protection from collision or weather or hazardous road conditions. For these reasons, bicycle or motorcycle travel typically has multiple times the risk of car travel over a given distance.{{cite web |url=https://road-safety.transport.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2021-07/ersosynthesis2018-pedestrianscyclists.pdf |publisher=European Union |title=Pedestrians and Cyclists – 2018 |date=February 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813466.pdf |publisher=US Department of Transportation |title=Traffic Safety Facts – 2021 Data: Motorcycles |date=June 2023}} Electric bikes present the further risk of accidental fire from the overheating of their powerful batteries, especially from lower-quality manufacturers.{{cite news |url=https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2025/02/04/gillibrand--schumer--torres-re-intro-lithium-ion-battery-safety-bill |title=Gillibrand, Schumer, Torres reintroduce lithium-ion battery safety bill |first=Kevin |last=Frey |work=Spectrum News NY1 |date=2025-02-04 |access-date=2025-03-25}}

{{See also|Maritime safety|List of maritime disasters by death toll}}

Water transportation accidents are far too diverse for any simple generalization or statistic. Modern mega-cruise ships are akin to slow-motion cities, where accidental deaths are dwarfed by ordinary heart attacks and strokes.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2024/air-land-sea/cruise-ship-travel |title=CDC Yellow Book 2024 |chapter=Cruise Ship Travel |first1=Kara |last1=Tardivel |display-authors=etal |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0197570944 |date=April 2023 |access-date=2025-03-26}} At the opposite extreme of size, technology, and regulation, refugee boats{{cite web |url=https://missingmigrants.iom.int/MMP10years |title=A decade of documenting migrant deaths |first=Julia |last=Black |publisher=UN: International Organization for Migration |date=2024 |access-date=2025-03-26}} and whitewater kayaks{{cite journal |first=David C. |last=Fiore |title=Injuries Associated With Whitewater Rafting and Kayaking |journal=Wilderness and Environmental Medicine |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=255–260 |date=December 2003 |doi=10.1580/1080-6032(2003)14[255:IAWWRA]2.0.CO;2}} are much riskier than luxury cruise ships. Ferries overloaded with impoverished crowds capsize regularly,{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/article/congo-boat-capsizes-busira-river-ac222ab809e107b119a8e86f1d5aa3f2 |title=38 people are dead and over 100 missing in Congo after a ferry capsizes on the Busira River |first1=Jean-Yves |last1=Kamale |first2=Wilson |last2=McMakin |work=Associated Press |date=2024-12-21 |access-date=2025-03-26}} and so do the sailboats of wealthy adventurers,{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB991093329852664554 |title=Executives Face the Elements as Yacht Race Turns Deadly |first=David |last=Gendell |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=2001-05-29 |access-date=2025-03-26}} and cargo ships in hazardous waters.{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/rescue-efforts-under-way-22-crew-members-capsized-cargo-ship-2023-01-25/ |title=Cargo ship sinks off Japan, leaving two dead, nine missing |work=Reuters |date=2023-01-25 |access-date=2025-03-26}} Any attempt to summarize maritime accidents would need to recognize all these differences and more.

File:Road-deaths-by-type.png

{{Main|Traffic collision}}

Most vehicle collisions are triggered by preventable driver behaviors such as drunk, drowsy, distracted, or dangerously fast driving, and are not true accidents in the strictest sense. 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 by automotive safety. The automobile industry accomplished this by writing customized articles about local collisions as a free service for newspapers that used the industry's preferred language. Since 1994, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has asked media and the public not to use the word accident to describe vehicle collisions.{{Cite web|last=Stromberg|first=Joseph|date=2015-07-20|title=We don't say 'plane accident.' We shouldn't say 'car accident' either.|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/8995151/crash-not-accident|website=Vox|archive-date=2021-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907052859/https://www.vox.com/2015/7/20/8995151/crash-not-accident|url-status=live}}

File:Train wreck at Montparnasse 1895.jpg in 1895]]

{{Main|Railway accident}}

For a given distance, passenger trains (and also buses) are considerably safer than car traffic, although riskier than commercial aircraft.{{cite web |url=https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and-community/safety-topics/deaths-by-transportation-mode/ |title=Deaths by Transportation Mode |publisher=National Safety Council |access-date=2025-03-31}} Major rail accidents can also arise from freight trains, carrying bulk quantities of hazardous cargo but few people.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ohio-derailment-canada-rail-safety-megantic-warnings-tsb-disaster-prevention-1.6761919 |title=Train disaster risks high, despite dire warnings like toxic Ohio crash, Lac-Mégantic tragedy |first=Yvette |last=Brend |work=CBC News |date=2023-02-28 |access-date=2025-03-31}} Unlike most other transportation accidents, a large fraction of train casualties are people out along the route, not riding on the train itself.{{cite web |url=https://journalistsresource.org/economics/comparing-fatality-risks-united-states-transportation-across-modes-time/ |title=Transportation safety over time: Cars, planes, trains, walking, cycling |first=Leighton Walter |last=Kille |work=The Journalist's Resource |publisher=Harvard University |date=2014-10-05}}{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Railway_safety_statistics_in_the_EU |title=Railway safety statistics in the EU |work=Eurostat |publisher=European Union |access-date=2025-04-01}}

File:Accidents.svg

According to the World Health Organization, globally more than 3 million accidental deaths occur in a typical year. The most-common causes are road traffic (1.2 million annual deaths, especially for young males) and falls (0.7 million annual deaths, especially for elderly females). Both fatal and nonfatal accident rates in developing countries are at least double the per-capita rates in high-income countries.{{cite web |author=World Health Organization |url=https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240047136 |title=Preventing injuries and violence: an overview |date=2022}}{{cite journal |first1=Aruna |last1=Chandran |first2=Adnan A. |last2=Hyder |first3=Corinne |last3=Peek-Asa |title=The Global Burden of Unintentional Injuries and an Agenda for Progress |journal=Epidemiologic Reviews |volume=32 |pages=110–120 |date=2010 |doi=10.1093/epirev/mxq009 |pmid=20570956 |pmc=2912603}}

The United States collects detailed statistical injury data (sampled from 100 hospitals) through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System administered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This program was revised in 2000 to include all injuries, rather than just injuries involving products.{{cite web |author=CPSC |url=http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Research--Statistics/NEISS-Injury-Data/ |title=National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250322194002/https://www.cpsc.gov/Research--Statistics/NEISS-Injury-Data |archive-date=2025-03-22 |url-status=live}} Data on emergency department visits is also collected through the annual National Health Interview Survey by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.{{cite web |author=CDC/NCHS |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/emergency-department.htm |title=Emergency Department Visits |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711015732/https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/emergency-department.htm |archive-date=2017-07-11 |url-status=live}} The US Bureau of Labor Statistics website includes extensive data on workplace accidents.{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/iif|title=Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities|website=www.bls.gov|access-date=2014-04-02|archive-date=2019-06-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602190845/https://www.bls.gov/iif/|url-status=live}}

{{Anchor|Accident models}}

{{See also|Accident analysis}}

Many theoretical models to characterize and analyze accidents have been proposed,A long list of books and papers is given in: {{cite book|title=Enhancing Occupational Safety and Health|date=2004|author=Taylor, G.A.|author2=Easter, K.M.|author3=Hegney, R.P.|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=0750661976|pages=241–245, see also pp. 140–141, 147–153}} which can be classified by type. Most accidents have no single cause, and no single model is the sole correct approach for analyzing them.{{Cite book|last1=Kjellen|first1=Urban|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wW9GDgAAQBAJ|title=Prevention of Accidents and Unwanted Occurrences: Theory, Methods, and Tools in Safety Management |edition=2nd|last2=Albrechtsen|first2=Eirik|year=2017|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4987-3666-4|pages=46, 75}} Notable models include:{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.ohsbok.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/32-Models-of-causation-Safety.pdf |title=OHS Body of Knowledge |first1=Yvonne |last1=Toft |first2=Geoff |last2=Dell |first3=Karen K. |last3=Klockner |first4=Allison |last4=Hutton |chapter=Models of Causation: Safety |editor=Health and Safety Professionals Alliance |publisher=Safety Institute of Australia |date=2012 |isbn=978-0-9808743-1-0 |archive-date=2017-02-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225133142/http://www.ohsbok.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/32-Models-of-causation-Safety.pdf |url-status=live}}

File:Pyramid of risks.svgs, were proposed for relating the proportions of minor and major incidents. These included Heinrich's triangle (1931) and Frank E. Bird's accident ratio triangle (proposed in 1966 and shown above).]]

• Sequential models
• Domino theory{{cite book |first=H.W. |last=Heinrich |author-link=Herbert William Heinrich |year=1931 |title=Industrial Accident Prevention |publisher=McGraw-Hill}}
• Loss causation model{{cite book|last1= Bird |first1= Frank E.|last2= Germain|first2 = George L. |date = 1985|title = Practical Loss Control Leadership|publisher = International Loss Control Institute |isbn = 978-0880610544|oclc=858460141}}
• Complex linear models
• Energy damage model{{cite book |last=Gibson |first=James J. |chapter=The contribution of experimental psychology to the formulation of the problem of safety |editor-last=Jacobs |editor-first=Herbert H. |title=Behavioural Approaches to Accident Research |date=1961}}{{cite journal |last=Haddon |first=William Jr |title=Energy damage and the ten countermeasure strategies |journal=Journal of Trauma |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=321–331 |doi=10.1097/00005373-197304000-00011 |pmid=4700110 |date=April 1973}}{{cite book |last=Viner |first=Derek |title=Accident analysis and risk control |date=1991}}
• Time sequence models
• Generalized time sequence model
• Accident evolution and barrier function{{cite journal|last = Svenson|first = Ola|title = The Accident Evolution and Barrier Function (AEB) Model Applied to Incident Analysis in the Processing Industries|journal = Risk Analysis|date = September 1991|doi = 10.1111/j.1539-6924.1991.tb00635.x|volume = 11|issue = 3|pages = 499–507| pmid=1947355 | bibcode=1991RiskA..11..499S }}
• Epidemiological models
• Public health analysis{{cite journal |last=Gordon |first=John E. |title=The Epidemiology of Accidents |journal=American Journal of Public Health |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=504–515 |doi=10.2105/ajph.39.4.504 |pmid=18118990 |pmc=1528041 |date=April 1949}}
• "Resident pathogens" metaphor{{cite book |chapter=Too Little and Too Late: A Commentary on Accident and Incident Reporting |last=Reason |first=James T. |year=1991 |pages=9–26 |title=Near Miss Reporting as a Safety Tool |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |editor1-last=Van Der Schaaf |editor1-first=T.W. |editor2-last=Lucas |editor2-first=D.A. |editor3-last=Hale |editor3-first=A.R.}}
• Process models
• Multilinear events sequencing{{cite journal |last=Benner |first=Ludwig Jr |title=Accident Investigations: Multilinear Events Sequencing Methods |journal=Journal of Safety Research |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=67-73 |date=June 1975}}
• Systemic models
• Skill/Rule/Knowledge model of human error{{cite journal |last1=Rasmussen |first1=Jens |last2=Jensen |first2=Aage |title=Mental Procedures in Real-Life Tasks: A Case Study of Electronic Trouble Shooting |journal=Ergonomics |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=293–307 |doi=10.1080/00140137408931355 |pmid=4442376 |date=May 1974}}
• Reason's model of system safety (embedding the Swiss cheese model)
• Healthcare error proliferation model
• Human reliability
• Human/Machine cognitive systems{{cite book |last1=Woods |first1=David D. |last2=Johannesen |first2=Leila J. |last3=Cook |first3=Richard I. |last4=Sarter |first4=Nadine B. |title=Behind Human Error: Cognitive Systems, Computers, and Hindsight |url=https://how.complexsystems.fail/citations/SOAR-BHE-original.pdf |date=1994}}
• Non-linear models
• System accident{{cite book|last = Perrow|first = Charles |date= 1984|title =Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies|isbn = 978-0465051434|publisher = Basic Books}}
• Systems-theoretic accident model and process (STAMP){{cite journal|last = Leveson |first = Nancy|date = April 2004|journal = Safety Science |title = A new accident model for engineering safer systems|volume = 42|issue = 4|pages = 237–270|doi = 10.1016/S0925-7535(03)00047-X|citeseerx = 10.1.1.141.697}}
• Functional resonance analysis method (FRAM){{cite web |url=https://functionalresonance.com/ |title=Functional Resonance Analysis Method |first=Erik |last=Hollnagel |access-date=2025-03-21}}{{cite book |title=FRAM – The Functional Resonance Analysis Method |first=Erik |last=Hollnagel |location=Farnham, UK |publisher=Ashgate |date=2012}}
• Assertions that all existing models are insufficient for complex systems{{cite book |last=Dekker |first=Sidney |title=Drift into Failure: From Hunting Broken Components to Understanding Complex Systems |date=2011 |isbn=978-1409422211}}

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

• Accident insurance
• Accident-proneness
• Act of God
• Fail-safe
• Idiot-proof
• Injury prevention
• Lists of disasters
• Personal protective equipment
• Poka-yoke
• Risk management
• Safety
• Safety engineering

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Category:Safety