If asked for the cause of an accident people often suggest abstractions such as institutional failure, new technology, Acts of God or fate. But institutions and technology have no minds of their own and cannot change on their own: someone has to do something. We should say who, what and by when, or nothing will happen. Lightning and other so-called Acts of God cannot be avoided but we know they will occur and blaming them is about as helpful as blaming daylight or darkness. Fate is just a lazy person’s excuse for doing nothing