A Compendium of Hazard and Risk Knowledge plus HSE Terminology

That liquid spill on your factory floor - is it an incident, an accident or a hazardous event? The question might seem a bit nonsensical but each of these terms has a very specific meaning in the field of health, safety and environment (HSE).

Mastering the specific terminology or jargon is key to HSE, like any area of business. In the case of HSE, however, knowing the exact meaning of terms is particularly critical because confusion over terminology can, and does, lead to dangerous situations and accidents. This is partly because many of the terms have generic wider meanings in addition to their specific HSE meaning, as suggested above, for example 'incident', 'accident', 'event', 'hazard' and even 'bowtie'. These all have very specific meanings and if all parties aren't using them in the same way then it's harder to manage or even describe a potentially dangerous situation.

This alphabetical guide describes many key terms in the HSE field clearly and concisely, to make sure there's no doubt what they mean. It's written in English that's easy for everyone to understand because in this area there's no room for confusion or ambiguity.