The risk is exposure to a situation where there is a possibility of suffering harm or being at risk. It is the vulnerability or threat that an event occurs and its effects are negative and that someone or something may be affected by it. When it is said that a subject is at risk, it is because he is considered to be at a disadvantage compared to something else, either because of his location or position; in addition to being susceptible to receiving a threat regardless of its nature.
What is risk
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It is the measure of probability in which an event of imminent danger can take effect in a certain place and come to harm one or more individuals; This means that it measures how vulnerable the environment and the individuals in it are, if they are affected. This considers the scope of damages that said risk event could cause.
It is important to differentiate certain concepts that are related and sometimes tend to generate confusion regarding the term “risk”, since it refers to the measure of probable damage; But, for example, vulnerability refers to the probability of damage caused by the dangerous situation; and dangerousness refers to the probability that the dangerous situation will occur.
There are different types of risks in everyday life, and an example of risk is the risks of social networks; a new type that has increased in recent years with the presence of technology on a daily basis.
According to authors
For the German sociologist Nikklas Luhumann (1927-1998), the danger comes as a consequence of a rational decision, suggesting that it is a function of the decision and exposure that is present in the environment.
The psychologist Britt-Marie Drottz Sjøberg, defined the term in several ways:
- The probability of suffering a specific damage.
- Agent representing a hazard factor.
- The probability of danger that it represents for the insured object that would suffer the consequences of the damage.
For the environmental engineer Omar Darío Cardona, danger is the probability of exceeding a value of environmental, social or economic consequences in a given place and period of exposure to the danger factor; and it states that the risk takes into account both the number of people affected and the impact on the area it affects.
The author Álvaro Soldano detailed three concepts about the term:
- Probability that an undesirable event will occur, due to cultural, political, historical, environmental or socioeconomic factors.
- Probability that a threat (probability of an event that affects humanity) turns into a disaster (event in which the risk is unleashed).
- Product of the probability that the event occurred with the expected consequences.
According to WHO
According to the World Health Organization, the risk factor is any situation that suggests that a person could increase their possibility of suffering some damage, either as a consequence of some disease or due to some physical damage that generates an injury; so its concept is focused on the state of health of an individual and health care; in other words, in this case the danger has priority in primary health care.
According to the body, these factors are made up of: underweight or very low weight with respect to age, hypertension, tobacco and alcohol consumption, lack of hygiene and sanitation, risky sexual practices, among others. They consider that the more effective the risk measurement, the more easily the need for help will be known, and therefore, the more effectively it will be possible to respond to it.
According to the RAE
For the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, the concept of risk is directed to the contingency or proximity of damage being caused, both to a living being and to a space; and it also refers to any contingency that may be the subject of an insurance contract.
According to its electronic edition of 1995, its etymology comes from the Latin “resecare”, to cut; However, around 2001 and 2007, they included the Italian word "risico" or "rischio", which comes from the classic Arabic "risk", which means "what providence holds", in the sense of something that could happen.
According to the lexicographer and etymologist Joan Coromines (1905-1997), the word shares its etymology with the word “cliff”, which is a high crag, due to the danger that it represents for boats when passing through the place.
The DRAE, in its 1992 version, indicates another concept that is related to danger, which is vulnerability, noting that it is someone who can be physically or morally injured.
Types of risk
Physical hazards
They are those that can cause some damage by direct or indirect contact with an individual, who is subjected to situations of such magnitude that the body cannot bear them. This type of danger includes those caused by radiation, noise, extreme temperatures, ergonomics, falls, confined spaces, among others.
These factors trigger damage and injuries in the industrial world, especially in construction and mining, where the dangers are greatest. However, there are methods and procedures to lessen the accidents caused by these exposures to which workers are exposed in these areas.
Chemical hazards
It refers to the agents that are found in the air and that can enter the body by inhalation of the same, causing diseases that affect the respiratory, digestive or skin tracts. These agents can be dusts, vapors and gases.
There are harmful dusts (toxic metallic particles, allergic dusts, inert and fibrogenic dusts that cause pulmonary overload) that can trigger poisoning, irritation of the mucous membranes, allergies, asthma, fibrosis, skin diseases or tuberculosis. Vapors are gaseous substances emitted by certain liquids and solids, which can cause anesthetic effects, suffocation and death. There are also liquids that, when they come into direct contact with the skin, can cause dermatitis, irritations and even cancer.
Biological hazards
They come from live microorganisms that, when entering humans, generate parasitic or infectious diseases. These can be diseases suffered by animals that are transmitted to man directly or indirectly, as in the case of rabies; environmental diseases, which are carried by small animals, such as toxoplasmosis or dengue; or highly infectious diseases to which people who work in health centers or laboratories are exposed, since they are in a work environment where they are in contact with possible contaminating agents, for example, in morgues.
There are four large groups of biological risk according to its index:
Group 1: are those that have little chance of contaminating man.
Group 2: they are those that, although they can cause some disease to the human being, are not epidemic. Ex: The flu.
Group 3: They are those that cause serious diseases that can be epidemic, but that can be controlled or prevented. Ex: Tuberculosis.
Group 4: They are those that cause serious diseases, they can even be pandemic and for which there is no treatment. Ex: Ebola virus.
Occupational hazards
This is all that work hazard that anyone can suffer within their work environment, due to the tasks inherent in the activities within their occupational space.
Among them are occupational risks due to psychosocial damage (causing fatigue, depression, anxiety, stress), overwork or inappropriate environments.
Physical hazards are present among these, and can be the product of deplorable or uncomfortable conditions, extreme temperatures, poor lighting, ergonomic factors (work tools that are not adapted to the worker for comfort in their position), among others.
Psychosocial risks
They refer to those found in the environment of the individual, in the relationship between him and his work environment in terms of its social environment, the organization of the tasks to be carried out and the execution thereof. They can lead to cardiovascular, muscular, respiratory, mental conditions and behaviors that affect healthy habits.
The causes that originate this type of risk are according to: the organizational structure, in which communication noises, failures in processes, interpersonal conflicts and authoritarian leadership can occur; the type of employment, in which a poorly structured design of the job or lack of definition of the functions related to it may be presented, salary that does not justify the pace of work, among others; and to the tasks performed, if there are repetitions, high work rate or monotony.
Financial risks
It is related to the probability that a financial phenomenon causes an economic deficit within a company, which generates uncertainty in the future of the organization. These are also known as credit or bad debt risks.
The types of financial risks can be:
1. Of liquidity, in which a party to an agreement does not have sufficient solvency to cover its obligations, even when it has assets that back it;
2. Credit, in which there is a probability that one of the parties to a contract does not assume the obligations of the same;
3. Country risk, those that are inherent to national events that affect the finances of the company;
4. Market, which are affected by fluctuations in financial markets due to the change or instability of interest rates;
5. Operational, due to failures in processes, resources, personnel or other external factors.
Natural hazards
They are those caused by natural phenomena, of a certain duration, extension and impact, which will affect the well-being of the worker, the environment or the normal process. This type of risk is made up of the danger or probability that a natural phenomenon will occur, the vulnerability or impact on the organization and the capacity to respond to said event.
Risks prevention
Risk prevention is related to the planning of protection measures that seek to minimize any future event that may cause physical harm to people. In other words, in the face of any particularly risky action or situation, individuals take certain precautions, in case the contingency is imminent and becomes a danger to their integrity.
At the business level, risk prevention seeks to guarantee the safety of workers by controlling processes, analyzing hazards and enhancing protection measures for them. These include systems for the execution of activities and control in the handling of toxic substances
Occupational risk assessment
An evaluation of the environment must be carried out to have a global vision of the job, obtain a risk analysis, what possibility exists of each one happening and what measures can be taken to avoid them.
In Mexico there are regulations in this area that must be complied with in a mandatory way for the care and protection of the worker's integrity, and for this, there is an Occupational Risk Assessment Guide
in the Work Units.
National Risk Atlas
For Mexico, there is a site for monitoring natural risks, in which they can be prevented and the population kept informed about the type of risk and in what exact geographic space it is triggered.
The atlas reviews records on temperatures, volcanic activity and possible risk situations to which the population may be exposed, and its site is //www.atlasnacionalderiesgos.gob.mx/.
