It doesn’t mean a workplace accident (although if the inquest was about a workplace accident, I’m sure it could).
This is how it was described in the findings from Daniel Morcombe’s inquest:
"16. An inquest is not a trial between opposing parties but an inquiry into the death, which a leading English authority has described in this way:- It is an inquisitorial process, a process of investigation quite unlike a criminal trial where the prosecutor accuses and the accused defends… The function of an inquest is to seek out and record as many of the facts concerning the death as the public interest requires.
17. The focus is on discovering what happened, not on ascribing guilt, attributing blame or apportioning liability. The purpose is to inform the family and the public of how the death occurred with a view to reducing the likelihood of similar deaths. As a result, in so far as it is relevant to the death being investigated, the Act authorises a coroner to “comment on anything connected with a death investigated at an inquest that relates to public health or safety or ways to prevent deaths from happening in similar circumstances in the future.” "
Ref: Page 6
www.courts.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/608476/cif-morcombe-d-20190405.pdf
And if it's anything similar to Daniel Morcombe's inquest, answers to all our questions could be years away.
Morcombe Inquest Timeline:
2010 - 2011: Inquest begins, inquest adjourned
2011: Cowan arrested
2014: Trial, found guilty and sentenced
2016: Inquest resumes
2019: Coroner hands down findings