An editorial decision was made to allow authors to use the term “accident” rather than “incident” as they saw fi t throughout the text. In many industries, government agencies, legal and scientifi c fi elds, the term “accident” is not used, or its use is debated because it could imply that the event was unavoidable (i.e., a chance occurrence or an “act of God”) and therefore could not be prevented. This is the reason why the British Medical Journal ( BMJ) banned the term “accident” in an editorial in 2001 [1] consequently arousing fervent discussion [2]. However, in some ambits such as in aviation, “accident” and “incident” are both currently used to mean different feature events with the aim to highlight such aspects that may practically affect risk management [3]. In particular within this context, both terms refer to events that may be subjected to preventative measures; however, “accident” is adopted for any occurrence actually resulting in injuries, material damages, or fatalities, while “incident” more generically refers to any occurrence that affects or could affect safety [3]. The term “accident” is still common in scientifi c medical papers [4], and it is widely used in medical literature regarding extreme sports in particular. Extreme sports medicine requires special methods and terminology, and, as already observed, the choice of the most appropriate terms in the fi eld of extreme sports injury prevention may be particularly complex [2] due to the special features of these activities. Within the sphere of extreme sports medicine, the use of both “accident” and “incident” may therefore help to distinguish events of different features. What is more, the use of “accident” could be diffi cult to replace. In particular, the term “accident” is often preferred for an event which: • actually results in unpleasant consequences such as material damages, injuries, illnesses, or death; • happens unexpectedly and unintentionally as a consequence of a complex chain of events which includes environmental and weather conditions, equipment failures, or human error. As such, “accident” may be appropriate to refer to injuries which take place while riding or fl ying specifi c extreme sports vehicles or crafts such as boards, parachutes, wingsuits, mountain bikes, etc.
The use of “accident” and “incident”
FELETTI F
Project Administration
2016
Abstract
An editorial decision was made to allow authors to use the term “accident” rather than “incident” as they saw fi t throughout the text. In many industries, government agencies, legal and scientifi c fi elds, the term “accident” is not used, or its use is debated because it could imply that the event was unavoidable (i.e., a chance occurrence or an “act of God”) and therefore could not be prevented. This is the reason why the British Medical Journal ( BMJ) banned the term “accident” in an editorial in 2001 [1] consequently arousing fervent discussion [2]. However, in some ambits such as in aviation, “accident” and “incident” are both currently used to mean different feature events with the aim to highlight such aspects that may practically affect risk management [3]. In particular within this context, both terms refer to events that may be subjected to preventative measures; however, “accident” is adopted for any occurrence actually resulting in injuries, material damages, or fatalities, while “incident” more generically refers to any occurrence that affects or could affect safety [3]. The term “accident” is still common in scientifi c medical papers [4], and it is widely used in medical literature regarding extreme sports in particular. Extreme sports medicine requires special methods and terminology, and, as already observed, the choice of the most appropriate terms in the fi eld of extreme sports injury prevention may be particularly complex [2] due to the special features of these activities. Within the sphere of extreme sports medicine, the use of both “accident” and “incident” may therefore help to distinguish events of different features. What is more, the use of “accident” could be diffi cult to replace. In particular, the term “accident” is often preferred for an event which: • actually results in unpleasant consequences such as material damages, injuries, illnesses, or death; • happens unexpectedly and unintentionally as a consequence of a complex chain of events which includes environmental and weather conditions, equipment failures, or human error. As such, “accident” may be appropriate to refer to injuries which take place while riding or fl ying specifi c extreme sports vehicles or crafts such as boards, parachutes, wingsuits, mountain bikes, etc.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
