Definition
The actions taken to reduce, eliminate, or manage an identified hazard so that the likelihood or severity of an accident or incident is acceptably low. Risk control follows risk assessment in the safety management process and includes choices such as avoiding the hazard, transferring the risk, mitigating its effects, or accepting it with safeguards in place.
Plain English
Once you have spotted a hazard and decided how serious it is, risk control is what you actually do about it — change the plan, add a safeguard, or decide it is safe enough to proceed.
Context Anchor
You will see this term in preflight planning, aeronautical decision-making, and discussions about whether a flight can be conducted safely under the current conditions.
Derivation
Risk comes from older words meaning danger or exposure to possible loss. Control comes from the idea of checking or directing something. Together, risk control means not just noticing danger, but actively directing the situation so the danger is reduced.
Why Pilots Care
Proper risk control directly reduces the likelihood of incidents by addressing hazards before flight rather than reacting to them in the air.
Grounding Statement
If a pilot sees a safety concern and changes the plan to make the outcome less likely or less severe, that is risk control.
Intuition Check
Risk control does not mean removing all risk. It means reducing risk to a level that is acceptable for the flight and the pilot’s ability.
Example Sentence 1
After noting deteriorating weather along the route, the pilot applied risk control by filing an alternate and adding an extra thirty minutes of fuel.
Example Sentence 2
During the cross-country briefing, risk control included adding an alternate airport and extra fuel to handle possible weather changes.