On Wed, 22 Nov 2006, Adrian wrote:

Tom Anderson ) gurgled happily, sounding much like
they were saying :

http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/d...annex_2(1).pdf

"An injury for which a person is detained in hospital as an inpatient,
or any of the following injuries whether or not they are detained in
hospital; fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushings, burns,
severe cuts and lacerations, severe general shock requiring medical
treatment and injuries causing death 30 or more days after the
accident"

So, by dint of my (unhospitalised) burns, by the definition used for
road accidents there have been serious injury accidents in my kitchen.

I would imagine, or rather hope, that the working definition is
slightly more nuanced than the one you quote.

How "nuanced" would you like it to be, bearing in mind this has to be a
consistent definition across the entire country and across years, even
decades, for any useful information to be gained from it?

Sufficiently so.

'Nuanced' was perhaps a poor choice of word. I mean that rather than
simply 'burns', it could be something like "first degree burns over more
than 50% of the body, second degree burns over more than 10%, or any third
degree burns". I don't see that there would be any trouble coming up with
a standard like that which would be applicable across the whole of the
country and a significant period of time.

It would clearly be nonsensical to count minor burns as serious injuries.
I can't find any detailed information about how it's done, though.

Look up a little bit. That's a Highways Agency URL. What would you like as
a more authoritative source?

A document other than a glossary. Glossaries are brief summaries, not
normative definitions. There must (i assume) be a policy document
somewhere which lays down exactly what counts.

tom

--
Pave the world