Australia Model Code of Practice: How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks 3.2b: 3.2 Estimate how severe the harm could be

Severity depends on the type of harm (strain, burns, lacerations, psychological harm, death), factors such as fall height or substance concentration, the duration, frequency and intensity of exposure, how many people could be harmed inside and outside the workplace, how hazards interact (for example job demands raising the chance of bullying), whether one failure leads to others (a power failure disabling electrically dependent controls) and whether a small event could escalate. Harm may be immediate or slow to emerge, and specific tools such as laboratory samples or noise exposure testing may be needed.