The check dam is an effective water conservancy engineering measure specifically designed to control water and soil erosion in the Loess Plateau, and it plays an important role in the reduction of sediment inflow to the Yellow River, silt land reclamation, flood control and disaster reduction, as well as ecological and economic development of the plateau. However, check dams are prone to water-damage disasters, it is imminent to establish a risk assessment system for the analysis. According to the investigation and analysis of the check dams afflicted by water-damage disasters, the risks of check dams were identified and a check dam risk hierarchy analysis model with 3 levels was established, including current risk, management risk and accident consequence, which involved in 9 indicators in total. With this model, the weight of each risk factor of the check dams was calculated and the safety status of the check dams were evaluated comprehensively using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. The results showed that the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process improved the consistency of the analytic hierarchy process effectively, it can provide a convenient and novice approach for the risk assessment of check dams.