Certified Maintenance and Reliability Technician (CMRT) Practice Test 2025 - Free CMRT Practice Questions and Study Guide

In Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), the Risk Priority Number (RPN) is a critical metric used to prioritize risks associated with potential failure modes. The calculation of the RPN involves combining three specific factors: severity, occurrence, and detectability.

Severity evaluates the potential impact of a failure, determining how serious the consequences would be if that failure were to occur. This helps organizations understand the urgency of addressing certain risks based on their potential harm to safety, functionality, or performance.

Occurrence assesses the likelihood or frequency of a failure happening. This factor reflects how often a particular failure mode is anticipated, allowing teams to target their efforts on those risks that are most probable.

Detectability measures the ability to identify or recognize a failure before it results in a negative impact. A low detectability score indicates that a failure is hard to detect, which raises the risk as it may go unaddressed until it causes significant problems.

By multiplying these three factors together, organizations can establish the RPN, which assists in prioritizing which failure modes to focus on in order to enhance reliability and safety.