Risk Ranking Methods

Must delineate changes

• Small
• Medium
• Large
• Don’t manage all changes with same rigor

Hazard analysis method and level of approval dependent on type of change.

Most MOC procedures will include a method of ranking the changes based on the potential risk. It’s important to distinguish between low, medium, and high-risk changes to avoid unnecessary work. If all changes were managed with the same rigor than the system would be too tedious, and people would start to look for shortcuts.

The level of risk involved with a change will have a direct impact on what sort of hazard analysis methods are used and what level of authority is required for the change to proceed. This allows low risk changes to be implemented quickly and ensures the proper assessment is made prior to making high risk changes.

There are many different methods of ranking changes. The following slides illustrate one of these methods. It includes first determining the hazard level and the potential severity.  This is followed by a risk ranking matrix to determine the risk level of the change.