Division 3.5 Severity of injury

The injury that a hazard can cause to the consumer can have different degrees of severity. The severity of the injury thus reflects the effect the hazard has on the consumer under the conditions described in the injury scenario.

The severity of the injury can depend on:

• the type of hazard (see list of hazards of section 3.2 in table 2). A mechanical hazard, such as sharp edges, can cause cuts to the fingers; these are immediately noticed, and the consumer will take action to heal his injuries. On the other hand, a chemical hazard may cause cancer. This normally passes unnoticed, and the illness may appear only after many years, and is considered to be very severe since cancer is very difficult to cure, if at all;

• how powerful the hazard is. For example, a surface heated to 50 °C may cause slight burns, whereas a surface at 180 °C will cause severe burns;

• how long the hazard impinges on the consumer. A short contact time with an abrasion hazard may scratch the consumer's skin only superficially, whereas a longer time may take off large parts of the skin;

• what body part is injured. For example, penetration by a sharp point into the skin of the arm is painful, but penetration into an eye is a more serious and perhaps a life-affecting injury;

• what impact the hazard has on one or several body parts. An electrical hazard may cause an electric shock with unconsciousness and, subsequently, a fire which may damage the lungs when the unconscious person inhales the smoke;

• the type and behaviour of the consumer. A product labelled with a warning message can be used, without harm, by an adult consumer, because the consumer adjusts to using the product. On the other hand, a child or other vulnerable consumer (see table 1) who cannot read or understand the warning label may be very seriously injured.

To quantify the severity of injury(ies), table 3 in these guidelines shows how to classify injuries into four categories, depending on the reversibility of an injury, i.e. whether recovery from an injury is possible and to what extent. This categorisation is for guidance only, and a risk assessor should change the category if necessary, and report it in the risk assessment.

Where several injury scenarios are considered in the risk assessment, the severity of each injury should be classified separately, and considered throughout the entire risk assessment process.

An example: A consumer uses a hammer to knock a nail into a wall. The hammer head is too weak (due to incorrect material) and it breaks, one of the pieces flying into the eye of the consumer so hard that it causes blindness. The injury is thus an ‘eye injury, foreign body in eye: permanent loss of sight (one eye)’, which is a level 3 injury in table 3.