We have all read about a tragic accident and wonder why the event took place. Many of us within the safety profession seek to determine the cause and prevent such an event. However, how does one accomplish such a task that consumes time to prevent a disaster? Safety involves identifying hazards and the assessment of risk. It remains debatable whether the terms remain interchanged without knowledge. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (2020), a hazard remains a condition that may cause or contribute to an accident. Risk, on the other hand, predicts the likelihood and severity of the potential hazard. In other words, identifying and documenting each hazard's effects in sufficient detail provides an option to determine the level of risk. It is questionable where we start to identify hazards and risks.
Terms have meaning
“and provide a descriptive name related to safety"
Risk and Hazard
Risk involves the severity and likelihood of potential harm and estimates the probability and frequency of the hazard's effect or outcome. Severity encompasses the impact and consequence of the hazard's outcome. Next, hazards involve circumstances that may cause people harm. A person may encounter risk associated with the likelihood and severity concerning whether an event occurs. Risk involves the likelihood and severity, meaning the chance an event will happen and, if so, how badly the hazard will affect the person. According to Brauer (2016), the hazard concept includes a barrier that causes conditions that lead to an event that harms a person or the environment. Next, risk includes the possibility of loss to equipment or harm to personnel. Risk often includes the determination of likelihood and severity as the outcome of an event.
Situations
Accident investigation tasks involve hazards surrounding the accident site—for example, inhalation of dangerous air particles from the post-fire involving petroleum products associated with aircraft fluids. Inhalation hazards exist and require respirators with appropriate filters to prevent inhalation of the hazard. Next, slips, trips, and falls produce a hazard surrounding the aircraft wreckage. The likelihood or frequency increases along with the severity of injury associated with slips, trips, and falls. Therefore, prevention methods require attention through the use of the hierarchy of controls. Controls may require wreckage removal to decrease the environment's risk, falling objects, trips, slips and falls while the investigator seeks to determine the accident's probable cause.
It's All About Interpretation
“Interpretation of risk often presents a subjective outcome”
Often, removal of aircraft wreckage leads to reassemble at a hangar or facility outside of the elements. However, moving evidence presents a problem that may not allow the investigator to identify the probable cause and contributing factors. Next, operating unmanned aircraft over human beings presents a hazard and prohibited per FAA regulation 107.39. According to FAA (2019), the regulator prohibits the pilot from operating the unmanned aircraft over people as the device presents a hazard to people on the ground. Since the technology remains uncertified, the FAA assumes the risk, determined by the likelihood, and severity elevates the risk into the high-risk category. In this case, the pilot must mitigate the problem. To reduce risk, the pilot must clear the area of non-participants before launch and immediately land the aircraft when a person enters the operation area. Sterilizing the area reduces the likelihood and severity presenting a low risk.
Final Note
Identifying a hazard or something that can injure someone presents the first task while conducting safety oversight. Next, after highlighting the hazard, the safety professional must determine the likelihood something will happen and how bad the outcome. Usually, a medium or high risk requires a strategy to reduce risk or eliminate the hazard. The objective remains to proactively seek hazards and develop controls to prevent the next major event.
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References
Brauer, R. (2016). Safety and health for engineers (3rd ed.). Wiley.
Federal Aviation Administration (2019). How to: Get an ops over people waiver. (Symposium).https://www.faa.gov/uas/resources/events_calendar/archive/2019_uas_symposium/media/How_to_Get_Ops_Over_People_Waiver.pdf
Federal Aviation Administration. (2020). Safety management system (Order 8000.369.C). https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/Order_8000.369C.pdf