Title: risk analysis
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - risk analysis
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.14998
Status: current

Definition
Process for controlling situations where an organism, system, or subpopulation could be exposed to a hazard.

Notes
1) The risk analysis process consists of three components: risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication.
2) The term is misleading since "analysis" has the fundamental meaning "resolution or breaking up of anything complex into its various simple elements, the opposite process to synthesis; the exact determination of the elements or components of anything complex (with or without their physical separation)". The usage defined here originates with the WHO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives and has been accepted in this context in spite of objections from terminologists.

Related Term
- population: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/14932

Source
- PAC, 2009, 81, 829. 'Glossary of terms used in ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)' on page 939 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-08-07-09)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14998/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14998/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14998/xml

Citation: Citation: 'risk analysis' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.14998
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Accessed: 2026-06-06T02:06:29+00:00