What qualitative risk assessment framework is commonly used in BE to prioritize controls?

• A. Cost × Benefit.
• B. Likelihood × Severity (risk rating).
• C. Probability only.
• D. Severity only.

Answer: (B)

In BE, prioritizing controls hinges on comparing how often a hazard could occur with how serious the consequences would be. A qualitative risk rating that multiplies Likelihood by Severity is the standard way to do this. You assess how likely the event is (frequency or probability) and how severe the outcome would be (impact or consequence), then combine those two dimensions into a single risk level. This lets you rank a wide range of hazards and decide which controls to implement first.

Why this approach works well: it captures both the chance of an event and the harm it could cause, so a rare but catastrophic hazard can be weighted appropriately against a common but minor one. Using only probability or only severity misses half of the picture, and a cost-based calculation isn’t a risk ranking method—it’s a financial evaluation rather than a safety risk prioritization.

In practice, you might rate likelihood and severity on qualitative scales (for example, unlikely, possible, likely and negligible, minor, major, catastrophic) and map them to a risk level (low/medium/high). This creates a clear, comparable basis for prioritizing controls such as engineering changes, administrative procedures, or personal protective equipment.