Engineering English
Incident
Engineering Safety · Last updated: July 30, 2026 · How this entry was written
Definition: An unplanned work-related event that causes or has the potential to cause injury, illness, damage or loss. It covers both harmful outcomes and events that only threatened harm.
Example in context
“Every incident on the construction site must be reported to the safety officer before the end of the shift, regardless of severity.”
“Şantiyedeki her olay, ciddiyetine bakılmaksızın vardiya bitmeden iş güvenliği uzmanına bildirilmelidir.”
Where engineers use it
Engineers meet this term in reporting systems, safety statistics and legal duties. Every safety management system starts by capturing it, because trends in reported events reveal weak controls long before serious harm occurs.
Synonyms: Safety Event
Practice: can you use “Incident” at work?
A tool falls from a platform and lands beside a worker without touching anyone. A trainee asks whether anything needs reporting. Explain why this still counts and what classification applies.
Show a model answer
“Please report the incident in the safety log immediately.”
“Incident” in 21 languages
| English | Incident |
|---|---|
| Turkish | Olay |
| French | Incident |
| German | Ereignis |
| Spanish | Incidente |
| Chinese | 事件 |
| Arabic | حادثة |
| Portuguese | Incidente |
| Russian | Происшествие |
| Japanese | インシデント |
| Italian | Incidente |
| Vietnamese | Sự cố |
| Hindi | घटना |
| Thai | เหตุการณ์ผิดปกติ |
| Indonesian | Insiden |
| Korean | 사고성 사건 |
| Bengali | ঘটনা |
| Dutch | Incident |
| Swedish | Tillbud |
| Finnish | Tapahtuma |
| Ukrainian | Подія |
Frequently asked questions
What does Incident mean in engineering?
An unplanned work-related event that causes or has the potential to cause injury, illness, damage or loss. It covers both harmful outcomes and events that only threatened harm. In Engineering Safety, the term carries a usage-frequency rating of 10/10 in the Engineering English library.
How do you pronounce Incident?
Incident is pronounced /ˈɪnsɪdənt/ (IPA). The Engineering English app plays audio for the term and checks your pronunciation with speech recognition.
How is Incident used in a sentence?
Example from an engineering context: “Every incident on the construction site must be reported to the safety officer before the end of the shift, regardless of severity.”
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