risk analysis Technique used to determine the likelihood or chance of hazardous events occurring (such as release of a certain quantity of a toxic gas) and the likely consequences. Originally developed for use in nuclear and chemical industry where certain possible events, of low probability, could have extremely serious results. Attempts are being made to use concepts from probabilistic risk analysis to characterise environmental impacts, whose occurrence and nature are not easy to predict with any degree of accuracy[risk ə'næləsɪs]
