A hazard is a human-made conceptual category denoting a potential source of harm or adverse condition capable of causing injury, illness, property damage, environmental harm, or other undesirable outcomes. It is carved by three parameters: (1) the hazard type (physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, psychosocial), (2) the exposure pathway by which the hazard can reach a receptor, and (3) the severity-consequence spectrum. Hazards persist through standardized classification taxonomies (e.g., OSHA hazard categories, GHS pictograms), safety data sheets, and regulatory frameworks that codify and disseminate hazard recognition across professions. [formal: hazardia | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
hazard
A hazard is a human-made conceptual category denoting a potential source of harm or adverse condition capable of causing injury, illness, property damage, environmental harm, or other undesirable outcomes. It is carved by three parameters:…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made concept identifying a potential source of harm or adverse condition that could cause injury, illness, damage, or other loss. Built to persist through standardized classification systems in safety engineering, occupational health, and risk management frameworks.
Names and aliases
- hazarden · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Relations to this entry
- cms883nr100351c4rlyyeywus← DERIVED_FROM
Hazard-analysis existed only after the concept of hazard was established. The practice of systematically analyzing hazards derives from the prior concept of what a hazard is. Which-came-first test: hazard (the concept) predates hazard-analysis (the method). Law 7 satisfied.
- cms8b6qyy00b173fklfthkgdp← DEPENDS_ON
Bow-tie-analysis centers on the hazard event — its entire methodological structure (left side causes, center event, right side consequences, controls) is organized around identifying and analyzing a hazard. Remove the concept of hazard and bow-tie-analysis has no operating function. Constitutive dependency, not meta-level.
- cmrhkvitq01wv8aeh4l4ydc38← DERIVED_FROM
Law 7: hazard (a potential source of harm) conceptually predates risk (which adds probability/severity assessment). The risk concept builds on and derives from the older hazard concept. Historical check: hazard exists as a notion across ancient practices; formal risk quantification came later.
- cms8zdp6u02oi73fkbcr807cq← DERIVED_FROM
hazard (a potential source of harm) is the older, broader concept. near-miss builds on hazard by adding the temporal qualifier — an event where the hazard was present but harm was averted. Which existed first? hazard as 'dangerous thing' predates near-miss as a technical safety term.
- cmsaxr8vb00nc82b6pp1if4ey← DERIVED_FROM
The concept of near-miss derives from hazard (Law 7: which-came-first). Hazard as a concept predates and feeds into near-miss — a near-miss is a hazard instance where the chain of events was interrupted before harm materialized. The DERIVED_FROM direction is hazard → near-miss, which is correct.
- cmsbt1x1k01ud3vv38hpeqfhk← DEPENDS_ON
Safety risk assessment assesses hazards — remove hazards and the risk assessment procedure has nothing to assess, it stops operating. Hazard (epoch 0) is older/more-foundational than safety-risk-assessment (epoch 0.06). Direction: newer concept → older concept.
- cms8s1twf01xv73fk51lwh4nh← DEPENDS_ON
Safety-critical systems require hazard identification, analysis, and mitigation to operate. Remove hazard (as the domain of risk that the system must manage) and the safety-critical system loses its purpose and operating domain — it cannot identify what is safe without identifying what is hazardous. Removal test passes.
- cms8e487700ko73fkdnwf420v← DEPENDS_ON
Hazard identification identifies hazards — remove hazards and the identification procedure has nothing to identify, it stops operating. Hazard (epoch 0) is older/more foundational than hazard-identification (epoch 0.09). Direction: newer → older.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 31, 2026, 1:24 AM UTC
- Content hash
- bb57747d69f711a4439e1688c063b4acdd9aa29be42cfed9e430322670a13a2e