hændelsesomfang

hændelsesomfang is a Danish term that translates literally to “event scope” and is used primarily in risk assessment, incident management, and reliability engineering to describe the breadth, impact, and extent of a particular event or incident. It encompasses quantitative and qualitative aspects such as the physical area affected, the number of people involved, the duration of the event, the severity of damages, and the reach of any consequential processes.

In practice, hændelsesomfang is evaluated to determine the priorities for emergency response, resource allocation, and mitigation strategies. For example, a chemical spill in a small laboratory has a limited hændelsesomfang, whereas a major pipeline rupture affecting multiple communities has a far greater scope and demands a coordinated national response.

Measuring hændelsesomfang involves gathering data on the incident’s parameters, which may include spatial coordinates, timestamps, affected systems, financial losses, and compliance impacts. Models such as probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) and fault tree analysis often incorporate hændelsesomfang as a key variable.

The concept is also applied beyond physical incidents; in cybersecurity, hændelsesomfang refers to the number and type of systems compromised and the spread of data exfiltration. In public health, it describes the geographic spread of an outbreak and the number of individuals affected.

Understanding hændelsesomfang allows organizations to benchmark incidents, perform root cause analyses, and improve resilience by focusing on high‑impact scenarios. It is a standard part of incident reporting frameworks in many Danish government agencies, corporate risk management programs, and engineering disciplines.