Difference Between an Incident and Accident Essay Example

The main difference between an incident form and an accident report is when they should be filled. The two are in many scenarios interchanged. An incident form reports the occurrence of an incident (Abrams, 2017). An incident is an event that occurs in a workplace and can cause consequences. An incident can either be negative or positive, intentional or unintentional, and either big or small. Different types of incidents happen all the time in a working environment (Friend & Kohn, 2018). Only significant general events that cannot be described as accidents are reported using the incident form. The incident report also entails events that are avoidable by observative and vigilant employees of the company (Wiegmann & Shappell, 2017). Managers and employers can identify incidences that can cause negative effects and plan measures to counter them. Every employee has a personal responsibility in preventing negative events. however, if incidents occur, they are filled in the incident form (Abrams, 2017). The incident report contains information such as the name of the involved individual, witnesses, time of occurrence, location of occurrence, preventability, and description of the incident. Incidents that occur in any work place are numerous. Some incidents have grave effects while others have unnoticeable effects. Therefore, only important incidents, those with significant effects, are reported.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

On the other hand, the occurrence of an accident causes a negative effect. Accidents can also be described as incidents, but incidents cannot be described as accidents. As earlier stated, incidents are any events, which either cause negative or positive effect but on the other hand, accidents only cause negative effect. Accidents are described as uncontrolled, unplanned, and unforeseen. Accidents are always unintentional and cause injuries, damage, or loss of life making them negative events (Wiegmann & Shappell, 2017). For an event to be termed an accident, there must be a resulting negative effect like physical damage of property, or physical injury. For example, a hammer falling from the top of a building is an event, while if the hammer falls on a human being and causes physical injury, the event becomes an accident (Wiegmann & Shappell, 2017). Accidents are unfortunate and result from ignorance or carelessness. The accident report is used to record accident events in the workplace. Accidents are rare compared to incidents. The accident report must have the name of the affected person for identification of the persons to be paid by the insurance policy (Friend & Kohn, 2018). Witnesses names are also written to make sure the accident can be confirmed that indeed it was an accident and that it happened at the work place (Abrams, 2017). Accident description is also included in the accident report form. The accident description must describe the exact event of how the accident occurred (Abrams, 2017). The events that led to the accident must be detailed in the best descriptive way, almost creating a picture of the occurrence. Every single detail of the accident should also be reported (Friend & Kohn, 2018). The exact body part affected or damage resulting from the accident should be included. The accident form also entails how the affected individuals were attended. The location of where they were treated and who attended to them is also important. Accident forms are more detailed that the incident form (Wiegmann & Shappell, 2017).

References

Abrams, A. L. (2017, January). Key Safety and Health Documents: Shields or Swords? In ASSE Professional Development Conference and Exposition. American Society of Safety Engineers.

Friend, M. A., & Kohn, J. P. (2018). Fundamentals of occupational safety and health. Rowman & Littlefield.

Wiegmann, D. A., & Shappell, S. A. (2017). A human error approach to aviation accident analysis: The human factors analysis and classification system. Routledge.