The chance or probability that a hazard will actually result in injury or illness or damage to property, equipment or the environment, together with an indication of how serious the harm could be, including any long-term consequences. Risk = severity of harm x probability of harm. It is a combination of the probability (likelihood) of an occurrence of a hazardous event and the severity of injury or damage caused by this event. While hazards are intrinsic to a given substance or process, risks are not and so will vary depending on the levels of risk reduction measures applied. For example, pesticides are intrinsically toxic they are hazardous and spraying them may pose serious health risks to farmers or farm workers. But where those hazards are properly controlled, the risks can be reduced to acceptable levels. Similarly, 220 volt mains electricity is also intrinsically hazardous but using safety devices such as protective insulation sheathing, circuit breakers, fuses, residual current devices and voltage transformers can reduce the risks to acceptable levels. When deciding on the acceptability of risk, it is important to take into account the gender, age and health of the workers for whom the assessment is being conducted and also to bear in mind their input