Health and SafetyGlossary of Health and Safety Terms

|A | |
|Abnormal Event |An unplanned or unusual event or occurrence. |
|Absolute |A non negotiable duty imposed by a regulation when it uses the term 'shall' or 'must' without the qualification of |
| |'reasonably practicable'. |
|Absorption |The entry of a substance into the body through broken or unbroken skin |
|Accident |An undesired event or series of events causing (or with the potential to cause) injury, ill-health or damage. |
|Accident Investigation |A systematic investigation of an accident to find out what happened and determine immediate and underlying causes as well as |
| |reviewing existing risk assessments, safety procedures and control measures with a view to introducing measures to prevent |
| |recurrence. |
|Accident Prevention |Measures taken to prevent accidents from happening. Can be either pro-active, i.e. implemented before an accident happens, or|
| |re-active, i.e. taken in response to an accident that has already happened. |
|Accident Rate |A normalisation of the number of accidents taking into account the number of workers employed and the hours