What is a hazard?

GUIDANCE

What is a hazard?

There is no agreed definition of the word hazard, but the principles used to define the concept are well understood. A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm, but this definition leads to a lot of confusion amongst practitioners and non-practitioners.

This is especially true across language barriers. ISO 31000 can help us break down the key concepts, and sometimes, it is useful to look at what isn't a hazard: 

Failure to...

A hazard is not an absence or weakness of control measures ("failure to rescue", "insufficient visibility", "inadequate supervision", "poor water hygiene" etc.)

Increase the likelihood of...

A hazard does not make it more or less likely that a person will be exposed (this is a risk factor)

A hazard is the source of something which has the potential to cause harm 

Running on poolside...

The way a person is exposed to a hazard (such as the task, activity, or route of entry) is the risk pathway. This describes how a person becomes exposed to a hazard and is particularly important when looking at the employer's duty to ensure a person is not exposed to a risk to their health and safety as a result of or by the way they operate their business

Vulnerable people...

The person at risk of harm is the risk receptor. Some hazards pose no risk of harm to certain groups (e.g. allergens to those not allergic), whilst others pose a risk to all human beings (e.g. contact with electricity). Some hazards pose a greater risk to some groups than others (e.g. drowning and non-swimmers vs swimmers). 

Drowning...

The harm they suffer could be an injury (e.g. laceration, fracture) or ill-health (e.g. legionnaire's disease), but this is not a hazard.  

It is often better to think of hazards as hazard statements as they are often sentences rather than brief words or phrases. Examples may include: 

• Tripping over foreign objects in a pedestrian walkway.
• Falling from height.
• Collision with other riders, the pool surround or catch pool bottom. 
• Exposure to electricity. 
• Submersion in deep water. 
• Ingestion of foreign objects.

 

The guidance available on hazards

• HSE. 2022. Managing risk and risk assessments at work. 
• HSE. 2022. Health and safety made simple. 
• HSE. 2018. Health and safety in swimming pools. HSG179, 4th edition. Paragraph 77.
• HSE. 2014. Toolbox. How to control risks at work. 
• EN 15288-2:2018. Swimming pools for public use. Part 2 safety requirements for operation. Clause 6 and Annex A. 

 

Are risks and hazards interchangeable? 

Hazards and risk are different concepts. Risk can be described as the uncertainty which surrounds the attainment of the desired result.  There are two intervals in the risk assessment process where risk can be assessed; initial assessment and residual assessment.

Initial assessment involves the assessment of risk which exists before controls are implemented. This will, in most cases, lead to the widest variance of results and is a poor indicator of the risk posed to persons in controlled environments such as workplaces (provided the risk has been identified in the first instance).

Residual risk assessment involves the assessment of risk after controls have been implemented with the aim of validating the effectiveness of control measures. 

 

Are hazards are harm interchangeable? 

Drowning is a process that results in injury and/or ill health. Access and use of the swimming pool is the hazard in that context. It can often be useful to think of injuries and ill health that could occur in an environment as a first step before seeking to identify the hazards that may cause them to occur. 

For example, it is relatively quick and easy to identify that a pool user could drown or contract legionnaires disease, but the hazards that may lead to those outcomes are numerous and often harder to identify. We've identified that there are at least fifteen different hazards that may result in a person drowning in a swimming pool. 

 

Do all hazards arise from the work or work setting? 

The group of legal duties we call "health and safety law" set down requirements for employers to take action to mitigate hazards that "arise from the work or work setting". Employers are not required to respond to risks that exist in everyday life. For example, human beings have used water for swimming for thousands of years, and there is strong evidence to say that using the sea or a lake, river, pond, or pool for swimming is part of everyday life.

When you begin to offer other people access to your swimming pool on a commercial basis (paid or voluntary), this position changes. You must now ensure that you identify and manage the hazards which arise from your pool or the way you operate it, which may expose others to a risk of injury or ill-health. 

A good example of the difference can be seen with water depth. Frequently, pool professionals may say that deeper water presents a greater risk to pool users, and this is true in everyday life, not just in an occupational context. If the pool user is unaware of the depth of water they are entering because of a lack of information or notice by the pool operator, then the hazard can be properly said to have arisen from how the pool is operated.

It is the hazards that arise from the swimming pool or the way it is operated that the pool operator must assess and manage.  

 

What are control measures? 

Control measures may be considered as positive actions or omissions that increase the likelihood of the desired result being realized.  

A control's suitability pertains to its relevancy. A control that is implemented but has no effect on the desired result is not suitable. Suitability is best assessed by reference to individual controls.  

It is rare that a single control measure will be relied on to guard against a person being exposed to harm. The sufficiency of controls pertains to the size of their effect. A collection of control measures may be assessed as insufficient where they fail to ensure the desired result. Under particularly s.3(1) HSWA 1974, a collection of controls may be deemed insufficient where a person has been exposed to harm and where there was a failure to adopt suitable controls that were reasonably practicable to adopt in the circumstances. 

 

Citation: Jacklin, D. 2022. What is a hazard? Water Incident Research Hub, 6th March.