Environmental Safety Risks

The past few decades have seen a great deal of highly beneficial industrial innovation. However, the unforeseen consequences of these innovations have led to a great deal of environmental pollution, which have greatly contributed to the current number of environmental safety risks.

Environmental safety risks exist in a variety of settings and come in several different forms. Some of the most prevalent environmental safety risks are the following:

Water Environmental Safety Risks

The environment is greatly threatened by harmful substances that pollute various bodies of water. Some of the most threatening and well known water environmental safety risks include oil spills, liquid industrial wastes, and runoff that contains harmful chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides. Water pollution negatively influences the sources of drinking water and threatens natural aquatic ecosystems.

Air Environmental Safety Risks

Pollutants in the air are some of the best known substances that pose threats to the environment. The most common of which are known as the greenhouse gases, a collection of gases such as carbon monoxide that deplete the ozone layer. Greenhouse gas emissions are the leading cause of perhaps the most well known environmental safety risk, global warming.

Solid Waste Environmental Safety Risks

Garbage is the common term given to the most common forms of solid wastes. This form of waste is taken from homes and business facilities and then kept in landfills. Solid waste poses significant environmental safety risks in that we have a finite amount of space to store the waste, and that harmful organisms tend to thrive in collections of solid waste.