“Rosemary was about to cook dinner for the family, she had
switched on the gas cooker to light it when she heard her phone ringing in her
bedroom, she left lighting the gas cooker to answer the phone but forgot to
switch it off. After the call, which took about four minutes, she came to the
kitchen and switched on the gas cooker, not remembering that it has been on. Immediately
she light the match, kitchen was engulfed with fire. It took desperate efforts
of neighbours to put off the fire. Though she survived, she spent three months
in the hospital but she never remained the same Rosemary due to the scares left
by the fire incident.”
Are you wondering on what is hazard,
risk and incident in the above scenario? Then read on; the switched-on gas
cooker was the Hazard, The Risk was HIGH because the gas has
spread all over the kitchen waiting for slightest spark of heat. Incident was the FIRE breakout.
If we are to prevent preventable
incidents from occurring, it is important to know the meaning of Hazard, Risk and Incident. That will enable us to recognise them when
we see any of them. Lack of good understanding of what hazard, risk and
incident are, are the major contributing factors to most of the accidents both
at home and elsewhere. So let’s begin.
Hazard
What is hazard? The word hazard is
often misinterpreted in most dictionaries. The dictionaries do most times
combine hazard with risk thereby making it difficult for a lay person to
comprehend what is hazard. Hazard and risk are basically different from each
other.
Hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm,
damage or adverse effect to people, property or environment. Examples of hazard
are: electricity, chemicals, water on floors, objects on walkways,
unguarded machinery, excessive noise, poor lighting, fire, gas cylinder,
bullying, etc. these all have potentials to cause harm, damage and adverse
effects on people, property or environment if not taken care of.
Risk
What is risk? Risk on
the other hand is the possibility (which may be low, medium or high) that
a hazard will actually cause harm, damage or adverse effect to
people, property or environment. For example, electricity is a hazard, so working
on electricity without proper lockout and tag-out has a high risk of
electrocution. It could be mending a naked electrical wire or even changing
electric bulb, without removing the fuse, tagging it out to enable others know
that someone is working on the electricity or taking other precautionary
measures, to prevent someone switching on the light thereby electrocuting the
person working on the cable. When these are not done the risk of electrocution
becomes high.
Incident
What is incident then? Incident is an unplanned, unpleasant occurrence that disrupts
normal activities. It could be an accident, near miss, or any other
remarkable event:
Accident is an unplanned event or chain of events that
has resulted in an injury or death of person(s), damage to assets, the
environment or company reputation. Example of an accident is a vehicle running
into another vehicle and thereby inflicting damage on it.
Near Miss is an incident that under slightly different
circumstances (or by chance) could have caused an injury or damage to assets,
the environment or company reputation, but did not, using the example above,
the vehicle ran into another vehicle but neither of the vehicle got damaged.
I hope you clearly understand what is HAZARD, RISK and
INCIDENT? If not go through the above again until you are conversant with these
terms then you can properly keep yourself and family safe.
If you have questions, do not hesitate to drop them below
and answers would be supplied to you as soon as possible.
Remain Safe, Sound and Secured
Prince Aloy Anyanwu
The Helper of your joy
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