As safety professionals we need to use terms from our profession CORRECTLY. For example, “risk” is NOT the same as “hazard”. I think we can all agree that flying in an airplane at 30,000 feet at 500 mph, with 50,000 pounds of jet fuel is hazardous! But these days on a commercial airliner it is the lowest “risk” means of travel available. So just because something is hazardous does not mean it is automatically risky. That is where we, safety professionals, come in – it is our role to make a hazardous task/activity LESS RISKY by using the hierarchy of controls, in the same spirit of how we have made commercial air travel SAFE.
