Definition
A hazard is a potentially damaging physical event, phenomenon or human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.
Hazards can include latent conditions that may represent future threats and can have different origins:
- natural (geological, hydrometeorological and biological) or
- induced by human processes (environmental degradation and technological hazards).
Hazards can be single, sequential or combined in their origin and effects. Each hazard is characterised by its location, frequency and probability [*1]. Hazard is a potential threat to humans and their welfare, or nature.
It should be noted that a hazard does not necessarily leads to harm !
Context
The following threats from hazards can be recognized:
- hazards to people (death, injury, disease, stress);
- hazards to goods (property damage, economic loss);
- hazards to environment (loss of flora and fauna, pollution, loss of amenity).
The two main features of a hazard are:
- the hazard magnitude (the peak deviation beyond the threshold);
- the hazard duration (the length of time the threshold is exceeded).
There are numerous environmental hazards . The most common environmental hazards worldwide are:
Methodology
Example
Assessment
