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NIOSH defines five rungs of the Hierarchy of Controls: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment. The hierarchy is arranged beginning with the most effective controls and proceeds to the least effective. -
Although eliminating the hazard is the ultimate goal, it can be difficult and is not always possible.
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NIOSH’s Prevention through Design Initiative comprises “all of the efforts to anticipate and design out hazards to workers in facilities, work methods and operations, processes, equipment, tools, products, new technologies, and the organization of work.”
Identifying and mitigating exposures to occupational hazards before work begins is the objective of all safety and health professionals. NIOSH offers a basic outline through its interpretation of the Hierarchy of Controls.
The hierarchy starts with the controls perceived to be most effective and moves down to those considered least effective. As defined by NIOSH, it flows as follows:
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Elimination – Physically remove the hazard
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Substitution – Replace the hazard
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Engineering controls – Isolate people from the hazard
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Administrative controls – Change the way people work
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Personal protective equipment– Protect the worker with PPE
“You can’t eliminate every hazard, but the closer you can get to the top, the closer you can reach that ideal and make people healthier and safer,” said Jonathan Bach, director of NIOSH’s Prevention through Design Initiative.
What is Hierarchy of Control ?
The hierarchy of control provides a consistent approach to managing safety at workplace, by providing a structure to select the most effective control measures to least effective control Measures to eliminate or reduce the risk of hazards that have been identified during the risk assessment process.
If you are a business owner then this article can be helpful to you also you must make sure you know about the main risks and the things you need to do to manage them responsibly. Generally, you need to do everything ‘reasonably practicable’ to protect people from harm. This means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time or trouble.
The most effective control measure involves eliminating the hazard and associated risk. The best way to do this is to remove or eliminate the hazard from the workplace or process altogether, so the hazard is no longer present; this could also include changing processes. An example could be removing a working at height risk by conducting the work at ground level, or eliminating hazardous machinery that can cause harm to users.
Elimination
Elimination is the most effective way to control a risk because the hazard is no longer present, and is the preferred way to control a hazard.
Substitution
If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the hazards and associated risks, you must minimise the risks using the substitution method. Examples would be replacing the task with a less risky way to achieve the same outcome, or changing a formula so that instead of working with a highly explosive fluid, workers work with a fluid that’s less explosive.
Engineering controls
An engineering control is a control measure that is physical in nature and controls the hazard at its source (requires a physical change at the workplace). For instance, use mechanical devices such as trolleys or pallet trucks to move heavy loads; place guards around moving parts of machinery; install residual electrical safety switches; install sound dampening measures to reduce exposure to unpleasant or hazardous noise.
Administrative Controls
This can include developing other work practices to protect workers from hazards; such as limiting exposure time to a hazardous task e.g. a noisy area for and/or use signs to warn people of a hazard.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Once all of the above measures have been found to be insufficient in controlling the risk to a practicable level, the next step is to provide PPE to staff. PPE includes everything from safety glasses, to hardhats, to fire-retardant clothing, ear defenders, and safety boots. Some industries will also require warning devices that are worn by the user, such as gas detectors and person-down detectors.
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Specification – is it suitable for the given task ?
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Fitting- items such as dust masks will often require specialist fitting to ensure an adequate seal
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Training in use – you cannot force staff to wear PPE so correct training is important for staff to understand the reason for use.
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Maintenance- it goes without saying that poorly maintained equipment is destined to fail at some stage.
Putting it into practice
This is merely an overview of the hierarchy of controls and you will see that each level will have its intricacies dependent on the industry you work in. The hierarchy of controls should be used by starting with elimination and if this is not possible, then finding a substitute risk management process solution and so on. The hierarchy of controls is a simple way of looking at how to assess and prioritise control measures so you can take the most effective steps to protect staff, employee and everyone at workplace. These controls should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure they remain adequate and in place.
Challenges Implementing Control Measures
Inconsistent application –
This is pertinent for multi-site businesses especially, where risk assessment processes and layouts should be consistent and replicated across all sites. This will also enable the business to track risk assessment compliance in a more consistent manner e.g. are all of the risk assessment control measures in place?
Poor culture towards Health & Safety –
It is a struggle in many businesses to get staff to understand that health and safety is the responsibility of all staff, not just the H&S rep or manager. Some of the symptoms of a poor culture can include:
- Failure to train staff in the correct use of equipment;
- Failure to inform workers regarding the hazards present and the related risks;
- Failure to create and implement Safe Working Procedures;
- No formal means of authorisation – i.e. How do you KNOW that Joe Bloggs has his fork lift truck license?;
- Failure to supervise adequately and check that all of the above points are being addressed.
If you consistently and correctly use the hierarchy of control method correctly, you are likely to create a safer and more productive workplace for all your employees – with the risk management process in place to ensure this happens.
Source: ➡️ Safety+Health magazine
https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/16790-the-hierarchy-of-controls
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