What Is the Risk?

The Assessment

Risk assessment is a detailed and systematic evaluation of all real and potential sources of danger. Its purpose is to identify foreseeable risks and to establish whether those risks are acceptable, or if special measures are called for to reduce those risks. 

A risk assessment should identify dangers in the workplace, and find out the risks of the work activity. The assessment should take into account any existing risk control measures — such as permits to work, restricted access, use of warning signs, established procedures, and personal protective equipment (PPE).

Two Factors

The risk is defined as a combination of two factors: the likelihood of an accident, and the seriousness of its consequences. The likelihood, as well as the seriousness, is estimated on a scale from 1 to 10, 1 to 5, or 1 to 3, depending on your company's policies and work procedures. By using a scale with more steps, one could get a wider variety when assessing the risk. Although, no matter how many grades the scale has, the highest number always symbolises worst-case scenarios. 

Likelihood Rating

Just like mentioned above, the likelihood could be rated 1 to 10, 1 to 5 or 1 to 3 but the likelihood could also be divided into four categories: very unlikely, unlikely, likely, and very likely. Here follows a description of the four categories as well as a description of the steps of a ten-graded scale. 

• Very Unlikely or 1 is when the chance for an occurrence of an individual during their working life is less than 1%.
• Unlikely or 2–5 is when an occurrence typically appears once during an individual's working life.
• Likely or 6–9 is when an occurrence typically appears once every five years.
• Very Likely or 10 is when an occurrence typically appears once every six months or more often.

Seriousness Rating

The seriousness or severity rating has the corresponding categories: slight harm, moderate harm and extreme harm. Within the likelihood, there is only one dimension to keep in mind when estimating it, but the case is not that simple when it comes to the severity. One thing could have a bad impact on the economic aspects of a scenario but may be preferable when dealing with the environment or health. Therefore, it is a bit more complicated to estimate the severity of an incident. Here follows a table to give a more concrete explanation: 

Risk Categorisation

A combination of these two factors gives the estimated risk for a certain occurrence, which is shown below. The risk itself could also be divided into three categories to see which kinds of risks are acceptable and which ones are not. 

If the harm of a particular incident is estimated to be slight, and it is very unlikely that it will occur, the risk is considered low. On the other hand, if the harm is extreme and very likely to occur, the risk is considered to be very high. 

As shown above, the risk is categorised by Low, Medium, and High and measures if the procedure can continue without any actions being taken, or not. 

Low risks are an acceptable and tolerable level, while a medium risk should be reduced to a tolerable level, if possible. A risk that gets categorised as high is unacceptable during any working conditions. A high risk needs to be reduced to a minimum of a medium level, to allow the task to proceed. 

The reduction of the risk is performed by reducing the consequences or likelihood. How this is achieved depends on the occurrence itself and the most effective way to reduce the risk. 

Risk Assessment Calculation

If one is using numbers instead of categories, the risk is calculated as followed and therefore easier to compare to one and another.  

R = Risk
P = Probability/frequency/likelihood
C = Consequences/severity/seriousness
R = PxC

To give an example, let say that you want to cross a road. If you are crossing a highway, the likelihood of getting hit would be quite high and would be estimated to a 7, if using a ten graded scale. The seriousness of getting hit would also be quite high since the cars are driving fast and you would most likely get injured and therefore the seriousness would be set to 8. The risk is calculated: 

R= 7x8= 56. 

Although, if you would cross a road in a small village, with just a few residents, the likelihood of getting hit decreases to a 3, depending on the time of the day, cars nearby, etc. The seriousness of getting hit also decreases since the allowed speed in a village is often lower than that on the highway. The seriousness is therefore set to a 4. In the big picture, the risk would also decrease from 56 to: 

R= 3x4=12. 

Document the Risk Assessments

To be able to share the knowledge gained, risk assessments must be recorded. A special form should be kept onboard for this purpose.

As this illustration shows, a fatal workplace accident is always a consequence of unsafe working practices. Avoiding unsafe working practices reduces the number of incidents, which in turn makes accidents less likely, and in the end, saves lives. The best way to locate unsafe working practices is to assess all work situations onboard for risks. In some cases, performing a risk assessment may also be a legal or regulatory requirement.