Accidents and Course of Employment
As previously mentioned, for one to recover under the North Carolina Workers Compensation Act, the employee has to prove that he or she suffered an injury by accident, that the injury arose out of employment, and that the injury occurred within the standard course of employment.
Your first question may be, "What is an accident?" By definition, an accident is an unusual event or result that was not expected or designed by the employee or employer. Whether something was during the course of employment pertains to the time, the place, and situations under which the accident occurred. Whether an injury actually occurred in the course of employment is usually a question of both law and fact.
Accidents are events that can be nailed down to an exact set time and place. Problems and diseases that develop gradually over time are not accidents, but occupational diseases. Incidents are only deemed accidents when the regular work routine has been interrupted and very unusual conditions are created which are likely to cause unexpected consequences. Unexpectedness is the key to an accident. It does not matter how great an injury is, if the injury happened under normal working conditions and the employee was hurt while performing normal duties in the regular expected manner, then the injury is not deemed an accident. There is one exception -- back injuries.