Definition

The dictionary defines hazard as a danger or risk. However, in this guide we distinguish between a hazard and a risk. According to the guide, a hazard is occasional, depending on the temporal situation, while a risk is an invariant property of the system.

Example

The risks of operating a boiler include explosion when it is too hot. The corresponding hazards include thermometer stuck on, shortage in the control unit, etc.

Properties

A hazard is an undesired situation. A situation is undesired if the operation design is not prepared to handle it, namely, if it is not in the design scope.

According to the resilience model ... ... a hazard is associated with an exceptional situation.

Related terms

When a hazard implements a risk, the hazard becomes a threat. The relationships between these terms are described in the Extended Swiss Cheese Model ...  

The need to formalize the term

The goals of resilience-oriented design include preventing hazards and protecting from hazard. Protection is based on automatic automatic detection. This is possible if we formalize the term.

A formal definition

A hazard is a situation not included in the knowledge base of normal operation.

Example

In the navigation system presented here ..., the scenario setting [Normal navigation, Idle] is a hazard, because it is not part of the scenario knowledge base.

Related topic


Updated on 29 Mar 2017.