Risk analysis

Risk analysis is about understanding the risks that we face. It is defined by the Standards Australia/ Standards New Zealand (2004) as the 'systematic process to understand the nature of and deduce the level of risk'. The process of risk analysis enables the consequences and likelihood of risks to be determined, against which the level of risk can then also be determined.

The process of identifying risks, analyzing them and evaluating them by comparing the level of risk against defined risk criteria is called risk assessment. We will be examining the risk analysis process in further detail in subsequent topics.


Forum activity

What I would like you to do now is think about the terms hazard, hazard analysis, risk and risk analysis and write/ jot down your thoughts on the relationship between them and how they all fit into the emergency management context.

Do your thoughts include concepts such as:

  • a hazard being a source of risk?
  • Risks don't exist without hazards being present?
  • The analysis of hazards enables us to determine the risks that we face and from that we can then analyse the risks against their likelihood and consequences to determine the level of risk that exists?

If you have other thoughts relating to these relationships that differ from those above, please feel free to post them on the subject online forum. It is always of interest to see something from another viewpoint.

Hazard analysis and risk analysis are complementary processes that enable a communities and emergency managers to better understand and plan for the risks that they face.

 

 

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