To understand how to assess risk at each of these steps one must first understand the basic concepts of "risk" and "hazard" within each of the specific aspects of a risk assessment, indicated in red. Each of these plays a significant role in the ability to determine whether or not a characteristic that is expressed by a novel LMO poses a potential adverse effect.

Example – What is risk? What is Risk Assessment?

Risk = the combination of the magnitude of the consequences of a hazard, if it occurs, and the likelihood that the consequences will occur.

Risk assessment = the measures to estimate what harm might be caused, how likely it would be to occur and the scale of the estimated damage.

Source: UNEP (1995).