Major accidents that have impacted society, whether in aviation, healthcare, oil and gas, maritime, nuclear, defence or rail have all had a services element that played a part in the accident. This work utilises formal accident reports to identify and analyse these service aspects that contributed to recent accidents. Service elements include the people, training and procedures. These can both cause an accident or help recovery from it. Reference is made to the emerging Service Assurance Guidance produced by the SCSC Service Assurance Working Group (SAWG). The paper shows that service failures can cause accidents; often with fatal consequences.