BMAT Risk Assessment & Management 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In occupational health risk assessment, the hierarchy of controls ranks which measure as MOST effective?
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Administrative controls
- Substitution
- Elimination (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Elimination
Elimination of the hazard is at the top of the hierarchy because it completely removes the source of risk.
Question 2: A clinical trial uses stratified randomisation to control for known confounders. In risk management terms, this is an example of:
- Risk transfer
- Risk avoidance
- Risk mitigation at the design stage (Correct answer)
- Residual risk acceptance
Correct answer: Risk mitigation at the design stage
Designing the trial to control confounders proactively reduces the risk of biased results before the study begins.
Question 3: Which component is essential when documenting a risk in a formal risk register?
- Names of staff who identified the risk
- Risk owner and agreed review date (Correct answer)
- Insurance policy number
- Full cost-benefit analysis
Correct answer: Risk owner and agreed review date
A risk register must assign a named owner accountable for management and a review date to ensure ongoing oversight.
Question 4: The concept of 'systemic risk' in healthcare most accurately refers to:
- Risks arising from individual clinician error
- Risks embedded in organisational processes and culture (Correct answer)
- Risks associated only with surgical procedures
- Risks that have already caused patient harm
Correct answer: Risks embedded in organisational processes and culture
Systemic risk refers to weaknesses in organisational systems, processes, and culture that create conditions for errors to occur.
Question 5: A hospital's risk appetite statement specifies 'zero tolerance for never events.' How should this influence risk management practice?
- Never events are accepted if infrequent
- All controls for never events must be maximised regardless of cost (Correct answer)
- Never events are transferred to insurance
- Never events are treated the same as other risks
Correct answer: All controls for never events must be maximised regardless of cost
Zero tolerance means no level of residual risk for never events is acceptable, so controls must be as comprehensive as possible.
Question 6: When a risk assessment uses Monte Carlo simulation, what is the primary advantage over a single-point estimate?
- It eliminates uncertainty entirely
- It provides a probability distribution of possible outcomes (Correct answer)
- It reduces computation time significantly
- It assigns blame for risk events
Correct answer: It provides a probability distribution of possible outcomes
Monte Carlo simulation runs thousands of scenarios to generate a distribution showing the range and likelihood of different outcomes.
Question 7: A patient safety officer reviews a series of adverse events and finds a common latent failure. 'Latent failure' in this context means:
- An error made by the most recent clinician involved
- A dormant system weakness present before the accident (Correct answer)
- A failure that is immediately obvious after it occurs
- A failure specific to one patient
Correct answer: A dormant system weakness present before the accident
Latent failures are pre-existing system weaknesses or conditions that lie dormant until combined with other factors to produce harm.
BMAT Risk Assessment & Management 4
In occupational health risk assessment, the hierarchy of controls ranks which measure as MOST effective?