Accident Rate

Accident experience in relation to a base unit of measurement, such as motor vehicle rail/road and aircraft accidents: for example, number of accidents compared to miles operated or passengers carried, ‘number of deaths per 2,000,000 miles travelled,’ and so on. Although an injury rate is more commonly used, occupational accident experience can be expressed as the number of accidents per 100,000 employee-days worked, per 100 employees, or per employee-year (200 working days).

Accident Severity

A measure of the seriousness or severity of losses rather than the number of losses. It is calculated in terms of lost work time rather than the number of individual accidents. It is yet another way to assess the efficacy of loss prevention services.

Accident Year Experience

Measures premiums and losses relating to accidents that occurred during a twelve-month period. Earned premiums and ultimate losses from loss events occurring within the same twelve-month accounting period are used to calculate underwriting results, regardless of when the losses are actually reported, booked, or paid.

See also Calendar Year Experience and Policy Year Experience.

 

Accidental bodily injury

An unintended, unexpected injury to the human body caused by an accident or by ordinary means that resulted in an unanticipated outcome.

For the purposes of a legal liability policy, reckless behaviour that results in an expected but unintended bodily injury is not accidental; the injury must be both unexpected and unintended from the insured’s perspective. Accidental injury usually happens at a specific time and place, but the concept of the slow accident has emerged, and conditions like deep vein thrombosis must be considered in light of policy definitions and court decisions. A person injured under a car when a jack slips has suffered an accidental injury under a personal accident policy, but back strain from an uneventful tyre change lacks fortuity and is thus not accidental.