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Accident
An accident is an unplanned for and unforeseen incident which usually result in injury to those involved and sometimes damage to property. It is something bad which happens suddenly when one does not expect it and causes harm or damage. An accident can occur anywhere and at any time. Accidents affect human beings.
Accidents are caused by being careless. It can hurt or injure us for a long time. Different accident can lead to scrapes and scratches, while other accidents can result in broken bones.
Types of accidents
- Road Accident: Road accident happen when one road vehicle hits another vehicle or road user, animal, or object. Road accidents happen suddenly on the road. They are caused by dangerous driving, wrong overtaking, disobeying traffic rules and regulations, over speeding and bad condition of vehicles. It is particularly important to be watchful for vehicles when we cross the road. Being careless on the road can lead to bad accidents.
- Air Transport Accident: When accidents happen in the air, they are more fatal than road accidents. This means that the death rate is higher, and the likelihood of survivors is less. It is rare to have accidents during air travel. Most air crashes involve only one plane. It is mostly caused by faults with the plane.
- Water Transport Accidents: Accident which occur in water usually result in large number of deaths, depending on the number of people on board the boat, canoe, ship, or ferry. Examples of ways accidents occur in water include collision of two or more boats, ship or ferry, a fault with the boat or ship or ferries, when a boat runs into something such as a huge rock or an iceberg.
- Rail Transport Accidents: Trains travel on rail track. Travelling by rail is travelling by train. Examples of the way accidents happen during travel by rail include when train accidentally go off the track which in turn result in a crash.
Types of injuries caused by accidents
- Burn: Burns are caused by hot objects like hot iron, hot water, fire, part of motor vehicles or appliances which get hot, pressing iron, hot plates, etc, unexpectedly touching any part of the body. Around the home, burn are caused by fire from cooking, hot water or oil being spilled on or splashed on a person, among others.
- Bruises: Bruises are caused by hard objects being rubbed against the body. They are also caused by the impact of a fall or something forceful or hard hitting any part of the body. Examples include hitting one leg against the table or chair, accidentally closing a door against your finger or something heavy dropping on you from a shelf, among others.
- Scald: Scald are caused by hot water, oil or acid touching any part of the body and removing the surface skin.
- Bites: Bites are caused by harmful animals like mosquitoes, snakes, doors, crabs, etc. Bites affects the skin and create a scar on it.
First aid treatment for victims of these accidents
First aid is the emergency treatment given to an injured person before the person is taken to the hospital or before regular medical services are available.
- Burn: First aid for burn is usually to apply a cold compress such as towel or paper soaked in water, to cover the area of the bur. One can also place the burn part of the body under cold running water.
- Bruises: First aid for bruises is usually a hot or cold compress. Sometimes a massage of the area around the bruise helps.
- Bites: The first thing to do with a snake bite is to reduce the flow of the poison within the person by tying something really tight a few inches above the bite. Next thing is to try an extract the poison. Some people do this by sucking the wound and spitting out the poison. For dog bite, the first thing to do is to clean and cover up the wound
Preventing and reducing the risk of accidents
- Driving carefully, obeying road signs and not speeding.
- Not driving when you are tired, sick or have been drinking or eating anything.
- Being careful when operating machines.
- Making sure road signs are clear and people can understand them.
- Avoid wrong or careless use of house appliances like pressing iron, hot plate, etc.
- Avoid walking or playing in bush path.
- Wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle or motor bike to prevent serious head injury.
- Crossing the street only at a zebra crossing and if there is no zebra crossing looking left, right, and left again before crossing.
- Making sure that the floor are dry especially when there are no carpet to make sure people does not slip or fall.
- Never leave cooking unattended.
- Keeping matches or lighter out of the reach of children.
- Having smoke detector around the home to sound alarm when a fire start.
- Keeping sharp objects such as knives, scissors, blades, etc out of the way and not playing with such objects.
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