Accident and incident are used interchangeably in conversation and mean different things in a safety system, which matters because they trigger different obligations. An incident is the broad category: any unplanned event. An accident is the subset that caused harm. A near miss is the subset that did not. Getting this straight is not pedantry, it decides what goes in the accident record, what is reportable to the regulator, and what your own investigation is trying to establish.
The hierarchy, in one paragraph
Incident is the parent term for any unplanned, undesired event. Accidents are incidents that resulted in injury, ill health or damage. Near misses are incidents that could have and did not. Dangerous occurrences are a defined list of incidents that are reportable because of their potential regardless of outcome. Every accident is an incident; most incidents are not accidents; and a firm that records only accidents has thrown away the majority of its evidence.
The four kinds of report a firm typically produces
Firms in practice generate four: the internal record of what happened, written at the time by whoever was there; the investigation report, written afterwards to establish cause and actions; the statutory report to the regulator where the event falls in a reportable category; and the insurance or claim notification. They serve different readers and different deadlines, and conflating them is how an internal record ends up written defensively, which destroys its usefulness for learning.
When the accident book is required, and what it is for
Employers are required to keep a record of certain workplace injuries, and the accident book is the traditional form of it. Two things are worth knowing beyond the duty: the record has to protect the injured person's personal data, which is why modern books have detachable pages, and the record is contemporaneous evidence that matters years later in a claim. A record written in the week after the event, from memory, is worth much less.
Investigation is where the value is, and it is optional in practice
Nothing forces most firms to investigate a minor accident properly, which is why most do not. The ones that do ask a plain question: what conditions made this possible, rather than who did it. The output is an action with an owner and a date, and a decision about whether an assessment now needs revising. That last link, from incident back to assessment, is the loop most safety systems never close.
Questions people ask about difference between accident and incident
What are the 4 types of incident reports?
In most workplaces: the contemporaneous internal record of what happened; the investigation report establishing cause and actions; the statutory report to the regulator where the event is reportable; and the insurance or claim notification. Some organisations add a near miss report as a distinct fifth type.
When is an accident book required in the workplace?
Employers have a duty to record specified workplace injuries, and the accident book is the usual way it is done; social security rules also require certain employers to keep one. Beyond the duty, keep one anyway: a contemporaneous entry is far better evidence than a recollection, and claims arrive long after the event.
What is the accident reporting procedure in the workplace?
At minimum: the person who saw it records what happened as soon as practicable; a nominated person decides whether it is reportable to the regulator and, if so, reports within the required time; the event is investigated proportionately to its potential; actions are assigned with owners and dates; and the relevant risk assessment is reviewed. Write those five steps down and name the people, because the moment you need the procedure is the worst moment to invent it.