Safety

Safety is fundamentally defined as the state of being protected from harm, danger, injury, or loss. It involves minimizing the risk of accidental harm to people, property, or the environment to an acceptable level through continuous processes of hazard identification, risk assessment, and risk management.

Key aspects of safety include:

• Prevention, detection, and reaction to accidental harm: Safety is about reducing the likelihood and impact of accidents by identifying hazards and managing risks continuously.
• Freedom from harm or danger: It means being free from the occurrence or risk of injury, danger, or loss.
• Safety management systems: These are organizational processes designed to manage safety risks effectively by defining risk management approaches, identifying risks, implementing controls, and ensuring continual improvement.
• Different dimensions of safety:
  • Normative safety: Compliance with standards and regulations.
  • Substantive safety: Actual safety performance based on real-world data.
  • Perceived safety: The user's sense of safety, which may differ from actual safety.
  • Security: Protection from intentional harm or criminal acts, often considered a separate but related concept.
• Operational safety: Maintaining risk at acceptable levels in operational settings by hazard identification, risk assessment, and mitigation.

In summary, safety is about reducing risks to people and property to acceptable levels through ongoing hazard management, ensuring freedom from harm in various contexts such as workplaces, transportation, healthcare, and public environments.