The multiplicative method estimates the combined effect of the various treatments being applied. Individual CMF values for each treatment are multiplied together to determine a combined CMF value. This is the most common method used at this time because it is identified in the HSM. The following is an example of the multiplicative method:

CMF

Combined

=

CMF

1

×

CMF

2

×

CMF

3

The primary limitation of this method is that it is likely to either underestimate or overestimate the combined effects of the overall safety treatments if their effects are not independent of one another. This method can only be applied when it is presumed that all the CMFs are independent and there is no overlap.