Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Accident Compensation Act 2001

Cover - Key terms relating to cover

25: Accident

You could also call this:

"What counts as an accident when you get hurt"

An accident can be several different things. It can be when something happens to your body because of an outside force, like falling or getting hit. It can also be when you move suddenly to avoid getting hurt.

An accident can be when you breathe in something you shouldn't, like a solid or liquid, but not germs unless someone else made you breathe them in on purpose. It's also an accident if you swallow something harmful, but again, not germs unless someone else made you do it.

Getting burned or exposed to radiation counts as an accident too. So does absorbing chemicals through your skin within a month. Being out in very hot or cold weather for up to a month can be an accident if it stops you from doing normal things or causes death.

For someone giving birth, an accident can include internal forces during labour that cause certain injuries.

Some things are not accidents. These include medical treatments by health professionals, unless it's during childbirth. Getting certain parasites or diseases from bug bites doesn't count as an accident unless it happens at work.

Remember, just because you're hurt doesn't automatically mean it was an accident. Each situation is looked at separately.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM100904.

Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Healthcare servicesWork and jobs > Workplace safety
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24: Cover for personal injury caused by work-related gradual process, disease, or infection: exclusion for events occurring outside New Zealand before 1 April 1974, or

"No cover for slow work injuries from before April 1974 outside New Zealand"

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25A: Review of operation of Schedule 3A, or

"Checking if the rules for helping people with accidents are working well"

Part 2Cover
Key terms relating to cover

25Accident

  1. Accident means any of the following kinds of occurrences:

  2. a specific event or a series of events, other than a gradual process, that—
    1. involves the application of a force (including gravity), or resistance, external to the human body; or
      1. involves the sudden movement of the body to avoid a force (including gravity), or resistance, external to the body; or
        1. involves a twisting movement of the body:
        2. the inhalation of any solid, liquid, gas, or foreign object on a specific occasion, which kind of occurrence does not include the inhalation of a virus, bacterium, protozoan, or fungus, unless that inhalation is the result of the criminal act of a person other than the injured person:
          1. the oral ingestion of any solid, liquid, gas, fungus, or foreign object on a specific occasion, which kind of occurrence does not include the ingestion of a virus, bacterium, or protozoan, unless that ingestion is the result of the criminal act of a person other than the injured person:
            1. a burn, or exposure to radiation or rays of any kind, on a specific occasion, which kind of occurrence does not include a burn or exposure caused by exposure to the elements:
              1. the absorption of any chemical through the skin within a defined period of time not exceeding 1 month:
                1. any exposure to the elements, or to extremes of temperature or environment, within a defined period of time not exceeding 1 month, that,—
                  1. for a continuous period exceeding 1 month, results in any restriction or lack of ability that prevents the person from performing an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for the person; or
                    1. causes death:
                    2. an application of a force or resistance internal to the human body at any time from the onset of labour to the completion of delivery that results in an injury described in Schedule 3A to a person who gives birth.

                      1. However, accident does not include—

                      2. any of those kinds of occurrences if the occurrence is treatment given,—
                        1. in New Zealand, by or at the direction of a registered health professional; or
                          1. outside New Zealand, by or at the direction of a person who has qualifications that are the same as or equivalent to those of a registered health professional; or
                          2. any ecto-parasitic infestation (such as scabies), unless it is work-related; or
                            1. the contraction of any disease carried by an arthropod as an active vector (such as malaria that results from a mosquito bite), unless it is work-related.

                              1. Subsection (2)(a) does not apply to an accident of the kind described in subsection (1)(f).

                              2. The fact that a person has suffered a personal injury is not of itself to be construed as an indication or presumption that it was caused by an accident.

                              Notes
                              • Section 25(1)(a): substituted, on , by section 10(1) of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Act (No 2) 2005 (2005 No 45).
                              • Section 25(1)(b): substituted, on , by section 10(2) of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Act (No 2) 2005 (2005 No 45).
                              • Section 25(1)(ba): inserted, on , by section 10(2) of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Act (No 2) 2005 (2005 No 45).
                              • Section 25(1)(f): inserted, on , by section 6(1) of the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 51).
                              • Section 25(2A): inserted, on , by section 6(2) of the Accident Compensation (Maternal Birth Injury and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2022 (2022 No 51).