There are various types of accidents, each being distinctive from each other. Follow this article down to get more insight on the types of accident.
What is an Accident
Accident is an unexpected event, typically sudden in nature and associated with injury, loss, or harm. They are a common feature of the human experience and result in injury or permanent disability to large numbers of people worldwide every year. Many accidents also involve damage to or loss of property.
Before we get to the subject matter I will love to through some light on a grey area. There is a difference between accident and injury.
While an accident is an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury; injury is damage to your body. It is a general term that refers to harm caused by accidents – falls, hits, weapons, and more.
Hence injury is a product of accident. This clarification was necessary because I see some persons adding things like bruise, sprains, cut, burns, etc. as types of accidents; actually, these are types of injuries.
Read Also: Direct and indirect costs of workplace accidents
Let’s get back to the subject matter; types of accidents.
Types of Accidents
In broad terms, accidents can be classified based on some factors, like:
- Classification based on the location of the accident or
- Classification based on the occupation
- General classification
1. Classification Based On The Location Of The Accident
- Domestic accidents: Domestic accidents an accident that takes place at home or in its immediate surroundings, and, more generally, all accidents not connected with traffic, vehicles or sport. Examples include – Burns, cut, slip, trip, fall, electric shock, etc.
- Industrial accident: According to the Factories Act, 1948: “It is an occurrence in an industrial establishment causing bodily injury to a person who makes him unfit to resume his duties in the next 48 hours”.
- Road traffic accident: The law defines a road traffic accident as a collision involving a vehicle on a road or in a public area that has caused damage or injury to a person, animal, another vehicle or property.
- Air transport accident: This is the accident that involves air transport resulting to property damage, injury, loss of life, etc.
- Water transport accident: This is the accident that involves water transport resulting to property damage, injury, loss of life, etc.
2. Classification Based On Occupation
- Occupational accident: A work accident, workplace accident, occupational accident, or accident at workis a “discrete occurrence in the course of work” leading to physical or mental occupational injury.
- Non-occupational accident: This is the accident that occurred outside the course of your work.
3. General Accident Classification
- Accident at work: A work accident, workplace accident, occupational accident, or accident at workis a “discrete occurrence in the course of work” leading to physical or mental occupational injury.
- Slip & trip: Slips happen when there isn’t enough friction or traction between your feet and the surface you’re walking on. Common causes of slips include wet or oily floors, spills, loose or unanchored mats, and flooring that lacks the same degree of traction in all areas, CCOHS states. Trips happen when your foot strikes an object, causing you to lose your balance. Workers trip due to a variety of reasons, including clutter in walkways, poor lighting, uncovered cables, drawers being left open and wrinkled carpeting or rugs.
- Road traffic accident: The law defines a road traffic accident as a collision involving a vehicle on a road or in a public area that has caused damage or injury to a person, animal, another vehicle or property.
- Water transport accident: This is the accident that involves water transport resulting to property damage, injury, loss of life, etc.
- Air transport accident: This is the accident that involves air transport resulting to property damage, injury, loss of life, etc.
- Accident involving animal
- Sport related accident
Read Also: Work accident – Types, Causes & Prevention
Other Types Of Accident Classification
1. Physical and non-physical
Physical examples of accidents include unintended motor vehicle collisions or falls, being injured by touching something sharp, hot, dropping a plate, accidentally kicking the leg of a chair while walking, unintentionally biting one’s tongue while eating, accidentally tipping over a glass of water, contacting electricity or ingesting poison. Non-physical examples are unintentionally revealing a secret or otherwise saying something incorrectly, accidental deletion of data, forgetting an appointment etc.
2. Accidents by activity
- Accidents during the execution of work or arising out of it are called work accidents. According to the International 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.
- In contrast, leisure-related accidents are mainly sports injuries.
Read Also: 13 Types of accidents in the workplace
3. Medical Negligence Accidents
This category covers a wide spectrum of accidents that can take place in a hospital or under the care of a physician. If you live in the western world, you probably have access to wonderful healthcare. However, accidents do happen and not everyone is perfect.
It’s important to be aware that if you suffer personal or emotional injury during treatment at a health facility you may have the right to be compensated. Practicing physicians are required to have malpractice insurance, in fact, precisely to cover themselves in the case of medical negligence.
Depending on the particular nature of your case, you may be suing either the medical facility you were in, the particular doctor who treated you or the company in charge of a particular aspect of your medical care. Medical negligence also includes negligence on part of a company that builds faulty medical equipment, for example.
4. Accidents by vehicle
- Aviation
- Bicycles
- Sailing ships
- Traffic collisions
- Train wrecks
- Trams
5. Car Accidents
This is perhaps the most common of the five classifications of accidents. According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT), over 1.3 million people die each year as a result of motor vehicle collisions. That’s over 3000 people per day. It is likely that you or someone you know has been in at least one, if not more, road accidents. Due to how common road accidents are, it’s important to be aware of the proper procedure to follow in the case of a motor vehicle accident.
The most important thing of course is your personal safety. As soon as you are in an accident, assess the damage to yourself and the passengers in your car first before investigating the damage to your car or the other person’s vehicle. If the accident is serious enough to warrant a police officer, call one.
Regardless of the severity of the accident, exchange information with the other driver like driver’s license, registration and insurance. Take pictures of all the damage, and video if possible. When the officer arrives, make sure to get a copy of their report as well as all the documentation pertaining to the incident.
All of this information you have collected will prove invaluable should you have to file an insurance claim or a car accident lawsuit. Just keep in mind that compensation will typically only be aware if you were deemed not at fault for the accident. However, some states have a “no-fault” law; so always check to see what your particular state’s regulations are. Arizona is a no-fault state.
6. Motorcycle Accidents
Due to fact that motorcycles are smaller in size than a motor vehicle, they are far less likely to be seen on the road. The result of this unfortunately is that many motorcyclists are involved in accidents that typically are not their fault. Most motorists are looking for other vehicles on the road and can block a motorcyclist from their view even if they are right in front of them, due to the fact that they simply are not looking for them. One of the most common types of motorcycle accidents is referred to as “the left hook”. The left hook is when a car turning left through an intersection turns in front of an oncoming motorcycle.
While it is unfortunate that motorcyclists are more vulnerable to accidents on the road, their likelihood of receiving an injury due to a car accident is even more unfortunate. Without any real protection, such as airbags, motorcyclists are far more likely to receive an injury if involved in an accident.
If you or someone you know has been injured in any kind of one of these accidents, you may be eligible to receive compensation for it. In some cases, you may have already received compensation, but it did not cover all the expenses that you have (medical, missed wages at work, property damage) and you could possible file a lawsuit to receive more. The best way to know if you are eligible is to speak with a personal injury attorney.
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