Safety

Safety is the state of being protected from physical, chemical, biological, and environmental harm. It aims to prevent injuries, illnesses, and property damage by anticipating hazards, reducing exposure to risk, and enabling people to perform activities with confidence. Safety encompasses design, governance, behavior, and ongoing monitoring.

Safety domains cover occupational safety in workplaces, consumer product safety, transportation safety, public safety, and environmental safety. Each domain identifies specific hazards and applies methods to prevent harm, such as engineering controls, safe operating procedures, product testing, and regulatory compliance.

Risk management centers on hazard identification, risk assessment, and the implementation of risk controls. The hierarchy of controls prioritizes elimination and substitution, followed by engineering controls, administrative measures, and personal protective equipment. Effectiveness, feasibility, and cost are weighed to sustain improvement.

Safety systems are often formalized through management systems that emphasize leadership, worker participation, training, incident reporting, investigations, and corrective actions. Standards such as ISO 45001 guide organizations in structuring policies, objectives, and performance measurement to foster a proactive safety culture.

Evaluation of safety performance uses leading and lagging indicators, audits, and incident analysis. Ongoing efforts must address human factors, changing technologies, and new risks, ensuring a balance between safety and productivity and fostering resilience in communities and workplaces.