Hazard identification

Reviewed by Matthew Bartlett, Director · Last reviewed 2026-06-22

Category: Risk identification & assessment · Reviewed by Jake Leat, Associate Director · Last reviewed

Hazard identification is the systematic process of finding, recognising and describing hazards that could give rise to harm or loss. In ISO Guide 73 and IEC 31010 terminology, a hazard is a source with the potential to cause harm; a risk is the effect of uncertainty on objectives arising from one or more hazards. Hazard identification is therefore the first analytical step before any risk assessment.

Techniques

IEC 31010:2019 catalogues over thirty techniques. The most widely used in commercial insurance contexts are:

• Checklists — drawn from regulator guidance (HSE), industry codes (LPC Rules, FPA), insurer surveys.
• Workplace inspections — physical walk-throughs identifying tangible hazards.
• Job safety analysis (JSA) — breaking each task into steps and identifying hazards per step.
• HAZID studies — structured workshops, common in major-hazard industries.
• Brainstorming and Delphi — group elicitation of expert opinion.
• Historical loss analysis — mining own claims data and industry loss databases (Lloyd’s Realistic Disaster Scenarios, RMS catastrophe models, ABI claims data).

UK regulatory anchor

Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (Regulation 3), every employer must “make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of his employees” — and the explicit first step of any such assessment is hazard identification.

For insurance brokers, hazard identification is also the basis on which we ask clients fair-presentation questions under the Insurance Act 2015 section 3 (the duty of fair presentation).

References

• IEC 31010:2019 — Risk assessment techniques.
• ISO Guide 73:2009 — Risk management vocabulary.
• HSE INDG163 — Risk assessment: A brief guide.
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/3242).

Cross-references

• Risk assessment methodology
• Bowtie analysis
• HAZOP study
• Loss prevention

Maintained by Matt Bartlett, Director, Apex Insurance Brokers Limited. FCA FRN 724952. Companies House 07014570.