It’s just one of those sad facts of life that accidents do happen, and they affect us, and the people we love. Very few people have the luck to make it through the entirety of their lives without having to face at least one substantial accident, and many people find themselves having to deal with severe incidents.

Accidents may happen, and if they do, it’s good to know that there are professions to turn to for assistance, such as Bill Hurst - personal injury lawyer.

But, while you can never guarantee that life will be perfectly safe and fair, there are absolutely steps that you can take in order to reduce the risks that you and your loved ones face, and to protect yourselves from common accidents.

Here are a few tips.

Try always to get enough sleep, but especially if you need to drive
An enormous number of accidents, in the home and outside of it, happen because people are simply too tired to pay proper attention to what’s going on around them, and to remain mindful of the risks involved.

One of the areas where this is most lethal is, of course, on the road. Professionals in the field of sleep research have actually argued that driving while sleep deprived is even more dangerous than driving while drunk. This is because drunk drivers will typically be involved in terrible accidents due to delayed responses.

People who micro-nap at the wheel, however, don’t respond late — they just don’t respond at all, meaning that accidents such as head-on collisions are all the more likely.

Sleep isn’t a luxury that you get to indulge in on weekends. It’s essential for life. Get enough of it, and you’ll be a more productive worker, a better partner, and you’ll be safer, too.

Do things more slowly and deliberately, take a deep breath
Next to sleep deprivation, one of the leading causes of accidents at home, at work, and everywhere else, is probably people rushing to do things in a panicked hurry, when they should instead pause, take a deep breath, and go at a reasonable speed.

If, for example, you’re panicking that you don’t have enough time to make dinner, and so you’re chopping food at the speed of light, you’re much more likely to accidentally cut yourself.

Or, if you drive a forklift and you’re rushing, you might fail to properly survey the area before reversing, and may cause a serious workplace injury.

Maintain a chilled out demeanour. Work hard and diligently, but be on top of things, and don’t panic and rush.

Moderate or cut out your alcohol consumption
Bad things just tend to happen a lot more often when alcohol is involved, which isn’t too surprising, considering that alcohol inhibits the parts of the brain that reason things through and assess risk.

From a drunken fall down the stairs, to driving over the legal limit, or even just missing an icy patch on the road after a couple of after-work beers and slipping, reducing the amount you drink, or cutting out drinking altogether, will likely make you a lot less accident-prone, while improving your health too.