What Does Hazard Mean?

A hazard is any object, situation, or behavior that has the potential to cause
injury, ill health, or damage to property or the environment.

Health and safety hazards exist in every workplace. Some are easily
identified and corrected, while others are necessary risks of the job and
must be managed in other ways (for instance, by using protective
equipment) Most occupational hazards are inactive or have a low potential of
actually occurring; however, employers must be prepared to deal with them
since a hazard becoming active can generate an emergency situation

Safeopedia Explains Hazard

Hazards can appear in many occupational circumstances. Some hazards are
acute and pose an immediate danger to the health and physical integrity of
the worker or guests on the premises. Others take a longer time to
materialize and may have a cumulative effect, as is the case for certain
chemicals, vapors, dusts, and radiation that may lead to chronic medical
conditions following repeat or prolonged exposure

A hazard is a process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury
or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or
environmental degradation. Hazards may be natural, anthropogenic or socionatural in
origin.

Hazards are often categorized by whether they are natural (sometimes termed physical)
or technological (sometimes called man-made or human-induced). The term 'peril' is
sometimes used instead of hazard, particularly in the insurance industry.

Natural (or physical) events are only termed hazards when they have the potential to
harm people or cause property damage, social and economic disruption. The location of
natural hazards primarily depends on natural processes, including the movement of
tectonic plates, the influence of weather systems, and the existence of waterways and
slopes (e.g. that might generate landslides). But processes such as urbanization,
environmental degradation and climate change can also influence the location,
occurrence (frequency) and intensity of natural hazards. These processes are known as
risk drivers.
CHARACTERISTICSOF HAZARD

Hazards can be classified as:

 Physical Hazards: These are the most common hazards and they

include extremes of temperature, ionizing or non-ionizing radiation,
excessive noise, electrical exposure, working from heights, and
unguarded machinery.
 Mechanical Hazards: These are usually created by machinery, often
with protruding and moving parts.
 Chemical Hazards: These appear when a worker is exposed to
chemicals in the workplace. Some are safer than others, but for
workers who are more sensitive to chemicals, even common solutions
can cause illness, skin irritation, or breathing problems.
 Biological Hazards: These include the viruses, bacteria, fungus,
parasites, and any living organism that can infect or transmit diseases
to human beings.
 Ergonomic Hazards: Including considerations of the total
physiological demands of the job upon the worker, even beyond
productivity, health, and safety.
 Psychosocial Hazards: These may arise from a variety of
psychosocial factors that workers may find to be unsatisfactory,
frustrating, or demoralizing.

 Natural hazard events can be characterized by their magnitude or intensity,

speed of onset, duration, and the area they cover.
 Hazards occur at different intensities (or magnitudes) over different time scales
(sometimes known as temporal scales). Scientists talk about the occurrence of
hazards of different intensities in terms of probabilties or return periods (also
known as recurrence intervals), within the context of uncertainty. In general, the
longer the return period (the less frequent the hazard) the greater the intensity of
the hazard. Because of these long return periods, some communities may have
no memory of the potential threat of a high intensity hazard
HOW/WHY DOES HAZARD FORM?
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.
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, therm] hazards and by the populations that may be affected and
the severity of the associated risk. In most cases, a hazard m ay affect a range of targets and have
little or no effect on others.
EXAMPLE OF HAZARD DATE OCCURRED, AFFECTED, CAUSE OF DAMAGE

February 1 1814 Mayon Eruption. The eruption was the strongest recorded to

date of the Mayon volcano. The volcano erupted characteristically dark ash and car-
sized boulders toward the town of Cagsawa therefore burying it along with the
Cagsawa Church which its ruins now a tourist attraction. An estimate of 2,000
people were killed during the eruption

February 6 2012 Negros Earthquake. A magnitude 6.7 and intensity 7 earthquake

hit Negros Oriental at a depth of 20 km. The earthquake triggered landslides
therefore burying a barangay and raising the death toll to 51.

January 12 2020 Taal Eruption. The volcano spewed ashes and steam-laden tephra
between 10 to 15 kilometers high therefore prompting PHIVOLCS to issue Alert Level 4.
There were 39 casualties although only one was directly caused by the eruption. Others
were due to health-related problems.

November 8 2013 Super typhoon Haiyan (Super Typhoon Yolanda) made landfall in Visayas and
caused storm surges and flooding which devastated the region particularly Samar and Leyte. It was
one of the strongest tropical cyclones, the costliest, and deadliest typhoon on record with death toll
reaching more than 6,000.