The Congress finds that the movement of hazardous materials in commerce is necessary and desirable to maintain economic vitality and meet consumer demands, and shall be conducted in a safe and efficient manner. The terms hazard, risk, risk analysis, hazard analysis and hazard or risk management have many forms and meanings.
RISK is the combination of the likelihood and the consequence of a specified hazard being realized.
It is a measure of harm or loss associated with an activity. The term hazard analysis may also include evaluation of consequences from an event or incident. In practice a sophisticated analysis of risk requires extensive data which are expensive to acquire or often unavailable. Fortunately few decisions require sophisticated quantification of both frequency and consequences. The type of risk analysis used should be appropriate for the available data and to the exposure, frequency and severity of potential loss.