Hazard based safety engineering in relation to injury epidemiology and etiology

Abstract

Principles of hazard based safety engineering involve the study of the sources and mechanisms of injury in order to best protect against it. This approach is used to support risk assessment, with various stages to identify, analyze and evaluate risk, and to reduce risk as needed. For example, hazard based safety engineering applied to product safety is based on the premise that various forms of injury occur when energy of sufficient magnitude and duration is imparted to a body part. The three-block model comprising energy sources, transfer mechanisms and susceptibilities to injury helps address the causes of injury, in order to better design and evaluate measures to protect against injury. These principles are reflected and supported in similar approaches used in diverse areas of health and safety, including public health and aircraft and motor vehicle safety. Such approaches to injury causation and prevention are rooted in the epidemiology and etiology of disease, and reflected in technical works dating back to the 1940s, which provide a scientific and historical context.