What term means the likelihood of suffering harm from a hazard?

• A. Hazard
• B. Likelihood
• C. Vulnerability
• D. Risk

Answer: (D)

Risk is the likelihood of suffering harm from a hazard because it captures not just that a hazard exists, but how likely it is to cause harm and how severe that harm could be. A hazard is something with the potential to cause harm, but hazard alone doesn’t say how probable or how bad the harm would be. Likelihood by itself is only a probability and doesn’t address the consequence. Vulnerability describes how susceptible you are to harm if exposed, which is about susceptibility rather than the overall chance of harm. So the term that best expresses the chance of harm from a hazard, considering both exposure and potential impact, is risk. For example, a fuel spill in a crowded area has higher risk because the likelihood of exposure and the potential for serious harm are both greater.