What factors determine risk level?

• A. Hazard presence only
• B. Exposure only
• C. Probability of harm only
• D. Hazard severity x exposure

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is that risk comes from both how bad the harm could be and how likely you are to be exposed to it. If a hazard could cause severe harm but exposure is rare, the risk is low; if exposure is frequent but the hazard isn’t very dangerous, the risk can still be meaningful. So, the overall risk is best represented by combining how severe the potential harm is with how much exposure there is, i.e., multiplying hazard severity by exposure. That’s why the option that uses hazard severity × exposure is the most accurate.

The other ideas miss part of the picture: hazard presence alone doesn’t account for how bad the harm could be; exposure alone ignores how severe that harm could be; and simply considering the probability of harm without weighing how serious it would be under exposure doesn’t capture the full risk.