Hazard
A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, 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, a term often used synonymously in colloquial speech.
For other uses, see Hazard (disambiguation).
Hazards can be classified in several ways. They can be classified as natural, anthropogenic, technological, or any combination, such as in the case of the natural phenomenon of wildfire becoming more common due to human-made climate change or more harmful due to changes in building practices. A common theme across many forms of hazards in the presence of stored energy that, when released, can cause damage. The stored energy can occur in many forms: chemical, mechanical, thermal hazards and by the populations that may be affected and the severity of the associated risk.
For example, natural hazards may be defined as "extreme events that originate in the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere or atmosphere"[1] or "a potential threat to humans and their welfare"[2] which include earthquake, landslide, hurricane and tsunamis. Technological and human-made hazards include explosions, the release of toxic materials, episodes of severe contamination, structural collapses, and transportation, construction and manufacturing accidents etc.
Definition[edit]
A hazard is defined as "the potential occurrence of a natural or human-induced physical event or trend that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts, as well as damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, ecosystems and environmental resources."[3]: 2233
A hazard only exists if there is a pathway to exposure. As an example, the center of the Earth consists of molten material at very high temperatures which would be a severe hazard if contact was made with the core. However, there is no feasible way of making contact with the core, therefore the center of the Earth currently poses no hazard.
The frequency and severity of hazards are important aspects for risk management. Hazards may also be assessed in relation to the impact that they have.
In defining hazard Keith Smith argues that what may be defined as the hazard is only a hazard if there is the presence of humans to make it a hazard. In this regard, human sensitivity to environmental hazards is a combination of both physical exposure (natural and/or technological events at a location related to their statistical variability) and human vulnerability (about social and economic tolerance of the same location).[2]
Hazards are sometimes classified into three modes or statuses:[41]
