About Components in a Hazards Analysis

A Hazards Analysis is made up of records and links as defined by the Hazards Analysis data model. Groups of records and links make up the main elements of the analysis.

A Hazards Analysis consists of the following components:

Process: A series of actions that are performed by multiple pieces of equipment or locations in a single system.
Risk: An event that might occur that threatens safety, either human or environmental.
Scenario: For a given process, the combination of a risk and its risk assessment and the negative outcome associated with that event (e.g., human injury). You can define multiple scenarios for a single process.

While at a high level a scenario is a combination of a risk and its risk assessment, each scenario can be broken down into the following more granular parts:
- Deviation: A condition that deviates from the normal behavior of the process and directly leads to a risk.
- What If: A condition that can potentially deviate from the normal behavior of the process and directly leads to a risk.
- Cause: The event that results from the deviation and leads to a negative safety or environmental outcome.
- Consequence: The negative safety or environmental outcome that results from the cause. Together, the cause and the consequence define the risk.
Risk Assessment: Identifies the probability that the risk will have a negative safety or environmental impact and the severity of that negative safety or environmental impact.
Safeguard: A system or device that prevents the risk from occurring or lowers the probability or severity identified by the risk assessment.