List of Offworld Medical Risks

ctrocsitleto bochileto This is a list of articles covering dangers to our people and mission.

The lists of hazards and categories below is similar to those used by NASA and the DOD in Systems Safety Analysis.

This field can be difficult and confusing, and it helps to have some clear definitions.

e.g.

Mishap: an unintended condition or event which can result in illness, death, partial or total disability, and/or injury. An accident is an example of a mishap, so are infections, or chronic exposure to toxic agents.

Risk: there are a couple of different definitions of risk. A colloquial definition is the probability of a hazard, which is not quite the same thing as a hazard by itself

Risk level: in NASA/military parlance, a "risk Level" is a combination of the Severity of a mishap/hazard, combined with the Probability of mishap/hazard.

Typical usage of "Risk Level" can be as follows:

Severity	Probability	Comment

High	High	Unacceptable or emergency situation needing immediate attention
Low	High	Perhaps acceptable to deal with via precautions, e.g. protective equipment and training
High	Low	Extensive verifiable Hazard controls required
Low	Low	Probably acceptable, might not need special precautions

Hazard Cause: There can be confusion between a hazard versus a hazard cause. For simplicity, it can be useful to consider a hazard as a final condition or undesirable event. A hazard cause is a precursor condition or triggering event which could result in a hazard. For example, electrical or mechanical component failures are hazard causes which can result in hazards such as collision or explosion.

Hazard Control: a product feature, or procedural step, which tends to prevent a hazard. Such as an arming switch, or structural margin of safety.

Psychological/Human Factors

Agoraphobia
Claustrophobia
Depression
Circadian Rhythm Dysfunction
Fatigue fatigue can result in operator error
Training operators need to be well trained in dangerous tasks
Information accurate and useful information must be displayed to operators in a timely manner to permit correct decisions
Procedures - checklists, operating manuals, help docs and procedures must be correct, complete, readable, comprehensible and anticipate unusual scenarios

Acoustic damage
G Force - broken bones, blackout, high speed projectiles
Confined Space a person trapped in a confined space can run out of air
Meteor Hazard -- Will a meteor puncture (decompress) your pressurized living space?
Industrial Accident (the list is endless)
Roof Support -- Consider the problem of roof collapse.
Collision vehicles, spacecraft
Suspended Load -- e.g. cables fail resulting in large falling objects
Construction activity -- falling cranes, bulldozers crushing workers

Flammable Atmosphere - a stoichiometric mix of oxygen/air with a flammable vapor can result in large explosion
Flammable Material
Ignition Source
Flammable Gas
Flammable Liquid
Oxygen
Oxidizer

Radiation Sickness - e.g. cosmic rays, solar radiation, nuclear piles, RTGs
Radiation Problem -- A discussion of radiation shielding requirements.
Cancer induced by radiation or carcinogens
Radioactive Materials
Radioactive Particles - ions (ionized atoms), protons, neutrons, electrons and other high speed subatomic particles
Ionizing Photons - X-ray, Gamma-ray, Ultra-violet
Passive Sterilization -due to exposure to radiation

Inhaling Lunar Dust
Dust - lunar dust represents pervasive and unusual problems
Silicosis is a disease of the lungs caused by breathing very fine silica dust particles, such as lunar dust
Smoke inhalation
Asphyxiation - e.g. from Nitrogen, Helium or other inert gases
Carbon Dioxide
Hypoxia

Hazards
Physiological/Psychological/Human Factors Zero or Low Gravity Physical Environments Medical Treatment Fire/Explosion Toxins Corrosives Temperature Extremes Non-Ionizing Radiation Ionizing Radiation Lack of Breathable Atmosphere Inadequate Food/Water Improper Pressure