What is Hazard Analysis and what does it entail? The purpose of Hazard Analysis is to determine the expected outcome of a specific set of conditions called a scenario. The scenario includes details of the room dimensions, contents, and materials of construction; arrangement of rooms in the building; sources of combustion air; position of doors; numbers, locations, and characteristics of occupants; and any other details that will have an effect on the outcome of interest.

Hazard Analysis can be thought of as a component of risk analysis. That is, risk analysis is a set of hazard analyses that have been weighted by their likelihood of occurrence. The total risk is the sum of all the weighted hazard values. In the insurance and industrial sectors, risk assessments generally target monetary losses since these dictate insurance rates or provide the incentive for expenditures on protection.