Risk Management - Help writing a risk statement.

[MathHelp]

So I am trying to learn how to write a proper risk statement. My textbook does not explain it - it only refers to making a risk statement as being important. I used google and it gave me the following template: If [event] due to [root cause] then [consequence]. Root cause is determined by asking "Why" five times.

So I tried it out:

Event: Student spills acid on themselves.

Root cause: Lack of concentration - Why1? They were tired. Why2? They did not get much sleep last night. Why3? They were out drinking. Why4? They wanted to make friends. Why5? They are an extroverted person. 

Consequence: they suffer chemical burns.

So the statement becomes:

"If a student spills acid on themselves due to being an extroverted person then they will suffer chemical burns".

I'm a little confused because this statement by itself does not achieve the purpose of a risk statement - being able to communicate risk information to third parties. It is not at all clear to someone reading the statement why being extroverted would result in spilling acid.

Does anyone know what is wrong with the risk statement?

The process for creating risk statements seems to lead to lots of vague statements that don't seem to have any utility.

Another example:

"If I am near a volcano when it erupts due to needing food then I will die".

Doesn't make a lot of sense without the initial part of the "why" analysis does it? - why do you need to be near a volcano for food... well, originally it would have been that you were near the volcano as part of your job and your job earns you money which you use to buy food...

[studiot]

I can't imagine the subject which offers these examples as risk assessments.

I agree that the examples you quote are a long way from what I understand by the risk assessment process.

 

There are several different forms of risk assessment, depending upon the intended purpose of the assessment.

But all depend upon identifying all the risks and assigning a probability to each one as well as a second parameter known as the severity.

Roughly this means the cost of being wrong.

Formally it says that given the event at risk actually happens, what would be the consequences  - would it actually matter ?

The implementation then becomes a matter of the statistics of conditional probability.

Finally an assessment of reducing or removing the identified risks is often appended at the end, particularly in Health and Safety matters.

 

Here are some examples

Compare the risk assessment for a Nurse and a Seamstress pricking themselves with a needle.

1) A seamstress gives herself a slight prick with a sewing needle.  

Assessment

There may be some short term pain but it is a common occurrence usually resulting in no harm.

Possible solution

Use a thimble.

 

2) A nurse pricks slips and pricks herself with a hypodermic needle she has just used to inject a patient.

Assessment

Risk transferring to herself a dangerous drug or dangerous disease(from the patient) such as HIV or Hepatitis.

Consequences can be severe  -  death or serious injury.

Possible solution

Use an automatic self retracting injection device.

 

A second place formal risk assment appears is in engineering in what is known as Limit State Design.

Here the objective is to produce a known and acceptably low probability of failure of an engineering design by statistically combining what are known as partial safety factors.

 

 

So tell us what the actual question is that you have been set, for more help, since this is Homework.