In risk management, what is a hazard assessment and how are likelihood and severity used?

In risk management, what is a hazard assessment and how are likelihood and severity used?

• A. Hazard assessment fixes all hazards automatically.
• B. Hazard assessment identifies potential sources of harm; likelihood and severity are evaluated to prioritize controls and resources.
• C. Hazard assessment analyzes past events without predicting future harm.
• D. Hazard assessment measures only financial risk.

Answer: (B)

A hazard assessment starts with identifying things or conditions that could cause harm and then evaluating how likely they are to cause harm and how severe the consequences could be. By measuring both likelihood and severity, you create a risk picture that helps you decide where to focus controls and resources. If a hazard could happen often and would lead to serious injury, it’s a high-priority risk and should drive the most effective controls and resources. If a hazard is unlikely or would cause only minor harm, it requires less urgent action. In practice, you identify the hazards, rate the probability of occurrence, and estimate the potential impact. Those two factors combine to determine the risk level, guiding which controls to implement first—prefer engineering or design changes, then administrative measures, and finally protective equipment. For example, a floor that stays slick after cleaning (high likelihood) and could cause a severe fall (high severity) demands quick corrective action, whereas a rare, minor nuisance would be lower priority.

A hazard assessment starts with identifying things or conditions that could cause harm and then evaluating how likely they are to cause harm and how severe the consequences could be. By measuring both likelihood and severity, you create a risk picture that helps you decide where to focus controls and resources. If a hazard could happen often and would lead to serious injury, it’s a high-priority risk and should drive the most effective controls and resources. If a hazard is unlikely or would cause only minor harm, it requires less urgent action.

In practice, you identify the hazards, rate the probability of occurrence, and estimate the potential impact. Those two factors combine to determine the risk level, guiding which controls to implement first—prefer engineering or design changes, then administrative measures, and finally protective equipment. For example, a floor that stays slick after cleaning (high likelihood) and could cause a severe fall (high severity) demands quick corrective action, whereas a rare, minor nuisance would be lower priority.