In all processes carried out by a person as a result of life, there is a likelihood of a threat to the environment, as well as to human life and health. This is the so-called potential hazard.
Potential danger - the likelihood of exposure to the human body of harmful and life-threatening factors that can lead to injuries, sudden and sudden health problems.
Potential hazard characteristics
Potential hazard is a universal property of human interaction with the environment and its components. Its nature changes from natural and natural factors of human life to all kinds of negative anthropogenic factors, often associated with scientific and technological progress (electricity, all kinds of radiation, high and low temperatures, power systems).
The production environment is complemented by more and more powerful technologies and technical systems that facilitate human labor, make it more productive, and in some cases make it possible to do without human participation at all. However, the more high-tech environment with which a person interacts, the higher the potential danger to him. All production processes are potentially hazardous to health, and can also cause death.
Potential hazard and risk
The likelihood of a potential hazard can be assessed using risk. In practice, complete safety is not achievable as long as the source of the hazard exists. However, you can reduce the risk of a hazard to a minimum while ensuring maximum safety. As a result, the risk remains unrealized for a long time or may manifest itself in the form of an accident.
The main characteristic of the safety level is the value of the permissible (residual) risk for a person. Using all kinds of statistical data, it becomes possible to preliminarily assess the risk in various spheres of human life. For example, the risk of being injured in a car accident can be characterized as follows: within a year, 1 in 10 people are at risk of getting into a car accident.
The permissible risk in practice is established in accordance with what has been achieved in the most successful analogous systems "technical system - man". For example, the probability of a severe accident at a nuclear power plant should not exceed 10 (10 per 1 reactor year). The permissible risk must be provided with a set of necessary measures (technological, technical, organizational) that will minimize the likelihood of a hazard.
