# Rapid Risk Assessment in Industry: Increasing Awareness of Worker Safety in Industrial Activities
## 2 Methods
### EL-PRAI Method Parameters  
In the EL-PRAI methodology, the severity scale ranges from 1 to 5, considering the chances that harm could occur to a person. However, if the hazard is particularly significant, such as the potential for a large explosion or fire that could cause multiple casualties, an additional value called \"Catastrophic\" is added and denoted by \"C\". This will help participants better understand the impact some hazards or dangerous situations can have and how the destructive effects can appear, often in cascade. Maximum foreseeable severity does not depend on the probability of those consequences occurring but rather on the nature of the hazard and the hazard's potential to produce that maximum harm. For example, in the case of a fall from height, the maximum foreseeable severity is death, the same as in the case of electrocution. In contrast, using a cutter may have a maximum foreseeable consequence of a deep cut or even amputation of a finger, but certainly not death. All these maximum foreseeable consequences have been identified without needing any prior information about their probability of occurrence. However, the probability of these consequences occurring is crucial, which is why it needs to be known as precisely as possible. To understand the difference between different values of severity level, for instance, between value 5 (Major) and value C (Catastrophic), one must simultaneously take the following into account:  
* The nature or potential of the danger that can cause death (e.g., the fall of a worker from a height can cause death--1 death; the collapse of a bridge or a building can cause multiple deaths, while the explosion of a tank or LPG gas installations might affect an entire community);
* The number of people exposed and possibly affected. Depending on the evaluation criteria considered, it can be considered that starting with a number of 2 deaths (fromthe same danger/cause and at the same time), we are dealing with a catastrophe, so the severity can be equal to C.  
To determine how likely a hazard is to cause harm at the maximum foreseeable severity, more information is needed about both the hazard and the workers who may come into direct or indirect contact with that hazard. This information includes the duration and frequency of exposure to the hazard, i.e., the duration the worker spends in the hazardous area, and thus in a dangerous situation; the effectiveness of active measures that practically control the hazard, including those preventing the occurrence of triggering events that, in the hazardous situation the worker is in, could cause the hazard to get out of control; and the effectiveness of measures reacting to the hazard that has gotten out of control. In addition to this information, another important element in estimating probability is the contribution of existing safety deficiencies to the probability of harm occurrence. Often, the effects of deficiencies are so significant that they can greatly reduce the effect of active and passive protective measures. Also, deficiencies can favor the occurrence of a hazardous event escaping from control. These aspects, though not exhaustive, should be understood very well by the participants. Then, when planning and carrying out the activities, they will have to identify them and be able to make an assessment of their importance and their influence on workplace safety. Participants will have to understand the value scales for the parameters that are part of the risk component, how to interpret these value scales, and after gaining experience, even be able to adjust them according to some imposed security criteria. For example, a usual severity scale up to level 5 is presented in Table 1, but a level has been added to the usual scale for the risks with catastrophic effects. Table 1 highlights that for hazards with catastrophic impact, meaning a high number of fatalities; the severity level is denoted by \"C\", and in the calculation formula, C = 10.