What is the purpose of risk rating in risk assessment?

• A. It identifies hazards only
• B. It combines likelihood and severity to prioritize mitigations
• C. It eliminates risk
• D. It requires no documentation

Answer: (B)

The key idea is that risk rating converts a hazard into a single risk level by combining how likely it is to occur with how severe the consequences would be. This one-number or labeled rating lets you compare different hazards on a common scale, so you can decide which ones to tackle first and allocate your resources where they’ll have the biggest impact. It’s not just about finding hazards; it’s about judging overall risk to prioritize mitigations.

Radiating from this, the rating helps you justify actions to stakeholders because it shows why certain controls are more urgent than others. It also supports tracking progress: after implementing controls, you re-evaluate to see how the residual risk changes. The other statements don’t fit because identifying hazards is a separate step, and risk rating itself doesn’t eliminate risk—controls reduce risk but rarely remove it entirely. Documentation is typically part of a formal risk assessment, so claiming no documentation is required isn’t accurate.