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Displaying 60 of about 768 resultsMining hazards can be defined as having major environmental impacts including the production of waste, release of toxic and hazardous waste, air pollution and emissions, water pollution and depletion, and the loss of productive land and ecosystems (adapted from UNDP and UN Environment, 2018).
A leak or a spill is an incident involving the uncontrolled release of a toxic substance, potentially resulting in harm to public health and the environment. Chemical incidents can occur as a result of natural events, or as a result of accidental or intentional events. These incidents can be sudden and acute or have a slow onset when there is a ‘silent’…
Pollution is defined as the presence of substances and/or heat in environmental media (air, water, land) whose nature, location, or quantity produces undesirable environmental effects (UN data, no date). Alternative definition: Pollution is defined as activity that generates pollutants (UN data, no date).
Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place using digital devices such as cell/mobile phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, e-mail, apps, social media, forums, or gaming when people view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes the deliberate sending, posting, or sharing of negative, harmful, false, or mean…
Malware is a summary term for different forms of malevolent software designed to infiltrate and infect computers, typically without the knowledge of the owner (ITU, 2008).
Conformity assessment: activity that provides demonstration that specified requirements relating to a product, process, system, person or body are fulfilled (NIST Information Technology Laboratory, no date).For the purposes of this standard, interoperability allows any government facility or information system, regardless of the personal Identity verifi…
Dam failure is the collapse or movement of part of a dam or its foundation, such that the dam cannot retain water. In general, a failure results in a release of large quantities of water imposing risks on the people or property downstream (ICOLD, 2015).
A building high-rise cladding fire hazard occurs when combustible materials such as cladding on a high-rise building greatly increases risk in the event of a fire and can have a catastrophic outcome (adapted from Rockpanel, no date)
A substance or a material emitting, or related to the emission of, ionising radiation (either in the form of electromagnetic waves or particle radiation) is radioactive (IAEA, 2018).
Explosive remnants of war are unexploded ordnance and abandoned explosive ordnance that are left by a party to an armed conflict following the cessation of warfare. Explosive ordnance is defined as conventional munitions containing explosives (United Nations, 2004:2).
Wind is air motion relative to the Earth’s surface. Unless otherwise specified, only the horizontal component is considered (WMO, 1992).
A subtropical storm is a subtropical cyclone in which the maximum sustained surface wind speed (using the U.S. 1-minute average) is 34 kt (39 mph or 63 km/hr) or more (NOAA, 2019).
Animal trypanosomosis is a lethal parasitic disease caused by unicellular organisms named trypanosomes. The disease is cyclically transmitted by the bite of infected tsetse flies and it affects both humans ‘sleeping sickness’ and livestock ‘nagana’ (FAO, 2020).
Q fever is a widespread zoonosis caused by the bacterium Coxiella burnetii. The respiratory tract is the most common route of infection, which occurs by inhalation of contaminated dust and spray shed from infected animals. Livestock, more specifically dairy goats and cows are considered as the major ‘source’ for human infections; dairy products from inf…
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a rare but severe zoonotic viral infectious disease caused by the Ebola virus. It can lead to haemorrhagic fever and is often fatal in humans. EVD can trigger epidemics with high casefatality rates (WHO, 2020).