Risk analysis can take different approaches. It can be quantitative; i.e., it can assign numeric values to probabilities and consequences; it can be qualitative; or it can be some combination of the two. The distinction is important when it comes to applying financial analysis to decisions and priorities. While fully quantitative risk analysis is expensive, costing up to 10 times as much as a qualitative analysis, it provides the best bet for optimizing product or plant performance and corporate value.

Increasingly, industry uses risk analysis tools, such as fault tree analyses or failure modes and effects analysis, to cut costs and to improve safety and reliability. For example, fault tree analysis requires keeping records of how often components or pipes, vessels, and instruments fail, and requires calculating the chances that people will make certain critical mistakes. The same information can be used for controlling costs.

Risk assessment has proven to be a useful tool in making industries safer and more reliable. Experience shows it can also improve a company's bottom line.

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