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hazard
Sign in to saveAlso known as safety issue, safety problem
thumb|A GHS hazard pictograms|hazard pictogram to indicate a hazard from a flammable substance. A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that harm being realized in a specific incident, combined with the magnitude of potential harm, make up its risk. This term is often used synonymously in colloquial speech.
A hazard is a potential source of harm—such as a dangerous substance, event, or circumstance that could damage your health, life, property, or something else you value. While people often use the words "hazard" and "risk" interchangeably in everyday conversation, technically a hazard's risk depends on how likely that harm is to actually occur and how severe the damage would be.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
~25 min read
Encyclopedic overview
36 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Relationship with other terms
- Disaster
- Risk and vulnerability
- Classifications
- By causing actor
- Natural hazard
- Seismic hazard
- Volcanic hazard
- Anthropogenic hazard
- Technological hazard
- Societal hazard
- Waste disposal
- Socionatural hazard
- Climate hazard
- By physical nature
- Biological hazard
- Chemical hazard
- Radioactive or electromagnetic hazard
- Thermal or fire hazard
- Fire hazard
- Kinetic hazard
- By type of damage
- Health hazard<span class="anchor" id="health hazard"></span>
- Ergonomic hazard
- Occupational hazard
- Psychosocial hazard
- Environmental hazard
- Property
- Cultural property
- By status
- Analysis and management
- Hazard symbol
- See also
- References
- External links
thumb|A GHS hazard pictograms|hazard pictogram to indicate a hazard from a flammable substance. A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that harm being realized in a specific incident, combined with the magnitude of potential harm, make up its risk. This term is often used synonymously in colloquial speech.
Hazards can be classified in several ways which are not mutually exclusive. They can be classified by causing actor (for example, natural or anthropogenic), by physical nature (e.g. biological or chemical) or by type of damage (e.g., health hazard or environmental hazard). Examples of natural disasters with highly harmful impacts on a society are floods, droughts, earthquakes, tropical cyclones, lightning strikes, volcanic activity and wildfires. Technological and anthropogenic hazards include, for example, structural collapses, transport accidents, accidental or intentional explosions, and release of toxic materials.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “hazard” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.