Description
Action Priority (AP) is a newer method for determining which risks from an FMEA should be addressed. Traditionally, the multiplication of Severity, Occurrence and Detection was used to calculate a Risk Priority Number (RPN). Any number over a certain RPN threshold required action to reduce the risk. However, it makes a difference whether you get a Severity of 8, Occurrence of 6 and Detection of 2, compared to a Severity of 2, Occurrence of 6 and Detection of 8, even though both equate to a RPN of 96.
Action Priority was developed in order to give more emphasis to Severity first, then Occurrence, and then Detection. You will receive three possible outcomes for each risk identified: Low, Medium and High.
In the example above, a risk with 8, 6 and 2 would result in an action priority level of High, but a risk with 2, 6 and 8 would result in an action priority of Low.
To determine the action priority level, we have created a table and matrix you can reference.
You can also download the FMEA template
