What is the meaning of risk?

• A. The cost of safety measures
• B. Means the risk of injury or illness to a person arising out of a hazard, measured in terms of consequence and likelihood
• C. The probability of a hazard existing in the workplace
• D. The severity of a single event only

Answer: (B)

Risk is the chance that harm will occur from a hazard, assessed by combining how serious the potential injury or illness could be with how likely that harm is to happen. In mining safety practice, you identify a hazard and then evaluate both the severity of possible outcomes and the probability of those outcomes occurring, so you can focus on reducing either the likelihood or the consequences. This makes the description that risk equals harm from a hazard, measured by consequence and likelihood the best fit. It isn’t just the existence of a hazard, nor the cost of safety measures, nor the probability of a hazard existing, nor the severity of a single event alone. For example, a hazard that could cause severe illness but is very unlikely still has lower risk than a more common hazard that might cause moderate injury, because risk weighs both impact and probability.