English Café: Incident or Incidence?

Advanced Details: Incident or Incidence? What about accident?

If you want to write about something that happened, i.e., one event, use incident. However, if you are writing about something that has happened more than one time, i.e., two or more events, use the plural noun, incidents.

• Incident – There was only one incident of pressure loss during the testing.
• Incidents – Please report all incidents of equipment failure to your supervisor.

But, when you are writing about an event’s occurrence over time, i.e., an event’s rate of occurrence, how often something occurs, use incidence.

• Incidence – The company is pleased with the lower incidence of safety issues this month.

So, what is the difference between incident and accident?

An accident is an event that has unintentionally happened, that results in damage, injury, or harm. An incident is an event that has unintentionally happened, but this may not result in damage, harm, or injury. Therefore, every accident can be an incident. However, not all incidents can be termed as an accident.