The Concept of Risk

The concept of risk includes three linked components:

	Probability
	An event
	The severity of the adverse effects of the event (or the consequence)

These adverse effects are "harm" and "detriment". It is useful to employ the word "harm" in relation to something living, usually a person or the natural environment. Thus "harm" is something that we would seek to avoid even if no definite economic cost could be attributed to it, or if it were not possible to define and measure all its implications.

The word "detriment" may be taken to apply to some form of economic loss, which might indeed include a valuation of harm to living things but which might also include damage of a much wider kind, as for example from the accident at Chernobyl which rendered land uninhabitable.

"Consequence" refers to the effects flowing directly from a hazardous event, some of which may be reduced by appropriate action such as evacuation. The idea of "consequence" does not include whatever steps may be taken to reduce or contain the event itself.

The following table provides some examples in a sport and recreation context of events that have an adverse consequence.

"Harm" effects	Example events causing the harm
Injury to sports players during the performance of a sport	Collisions between players, collisions with solid structures in the sports arena, tripping and falling
Injury to sports officials	Struck by a javelin while pursuing official duties on the athletics oval
Injury to spectators	Being hit be a cricket ball, being crushed by a riotous crowd at a soccer match, be run over by a racing car
Injury to by-standers	Hit by something falling out of the sky i.e. an arrow, bullet, skydiver, ballon
Injury to sports players as a result of extreme weather	Lightning strike at golf, rough seas in a yacht race

"Detriment" effects	Example events causing the detriment
Financial loss of the organisation	Losing a sponsor as a result of a poorly organised tournament
Loss of reputation of sport or organisation	Repeated cases of athletes testing positive in doping controls
Loss of work input	A split of the organisation into two political factions that are unable to work together
Loss of key data i.e. membership data	Theft of the organisation's computer
Team loses championship	Team members arrives too late at the venue

Probability

Probability, or the likelihood of an event causing harm or detriment occuring, is intrinsically important to the way that we percieve and deal with risk. All most all people prepared to travel by aeroplane if the need or opportunity arises. When we do so we have an understanding that, should the aeroplane crash, it is likely we will die. Why do people put themselves at risk in this way? It is because we also understand that the probability of being involved in an air crash is very, very small. Although the adverse effects are terrible, the low probability of an event such as a plane crash makes air travel a very acceptable risk.

On the other hand the risks associated with some sporting activities may be unacceptable to many people. Even though the consequences may be only a minor injury, the probability of an event causing such a consequence may be so high that they occur very frequently. As a result parents, in particular, may be unwilling to allow their child to participate in such a particular sport.

Risk is therefore evaluated in terms of:

The severity of the harm or detriment that may occur as a result of an event and
The probability of the event occuring

Learners wishing to obtain further information about Risk Management basics are highly recommended to visit the following web sites:

Sport and Recreation Queensland	Sport and Recreation Queensland is an agency of the government of the State of Queensland. On the home page click on search. Then on the search page type in "Risk" and the search results page will list at the top an article titles "Playing It Safe" (Extract) - OSR Information Paper #3. This is an excellent resource.
State Office of Risk Management (SORM)	SORM is an agency of the government of the State of Texas, United States of America. On the home page click on "Risk Management Guielines". This will lead you to web pages in four volumes on developing and implementing a comprehensive risk management program. Resources on the Internet do not come any better than this.