Accident prevention--injury control--injury prevention--or whatever?

The launch of a new international journal on injury prevention offers a unique opportunity to open up a debate on terminology. Over the last 30 years or so there has emerged a number of terms which may or may not be compatible. In North America there now appears to be a strong consensus on the use of the term injury control."2 In the UK the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and others have kept the term accident prevention more in vogue. The term has been upheld more recently with the setting up of the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) in 1979, and with the UK Government's Department of Health Health of the Nation key areas policy on accidents.3 The term accident is also used by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in many parts ofEurope and in several other parts of the English speaking world.4 There are good reasons for getting some standard terminology agreed and for this to become established practice. Firstly there is a need for consistency. Secondly there is a need for those working in the field to understand what they mean and what everyone else means. Thirdly, there is a need for the public to understand, although this may not be so important providing we can get the message across effectively. To initiate the debate I have outlined some definitions for the terms used regularly by most people working in the field. These terms are: