Hazard Identification and Control

Courtesy of the
Public Education and Conferences Section
Oregon Occupational Safety and Health
Division (OR-OSHA)
 IDENTIFYING HAZARDS

It takes a hazard and someone

exposed to the hazard to
produce an accident.

Hazard + Exposure Accident

 What is Exposure?

How close are you to the "danger zone"?

Physical exposure - generally arms length

Environmental exposure - could be everyone in facility.

 Conditions and behaviors are just
the symptoms

They are specific: if you can point to a person or a thing, it's

a surface symptom

They may exist or be performed by anyone, anytime,

anywhere

They may directly cause or contribute to an incident or

accident

They likely represent the outputs of a flawed safety

management system

They are important clues revealing root causes

 3
Conditions account for _____ % of all
workplace accidents.

95
Behaviors account for _____ % of all
workplace accidents.

2
Uncontrollable acts account for ____ %
of all workplace accidents.

Conclusion: Management has some degree of

control over 98% of the causes for all accidents in
the workplace!
 The underlying root causes must be
diagnosed and treated!

System Design Defects - Missing or inadequate program

development

One or more inadequate policies, plans, programs, processes,

procedures, practices

Inadequate resources - money, time, people, materials, etc.

Assures inadequate implementation of the safety management

system

Have the greatest positive or negative impact on the safety

management system
System Performance Defects - Failure to accomplish
action plans

Managers, supervisors, or employees fail to effectively carry

out safety policies, plans, processes, procedures or
management practices
They produce common hazardous conditions and/or unsafe
behaviors, or
They produce repeated unique hazardous conditions and/or
unsafe behaviors
 Four Important Processes to
Identify and Analyze Hazards

1 Inspections

How to develop an effective safety and health

checklist.
Determine applicable state safety & health rules for the
workplace.
Review rules and use those you feel apply to your
workplace.
Develop applicable checklist questions that are not
addressed in the rules.
Who's involved in the inspection process?
What is a major weakness inherent in the
inspection process?
What process(es) can we use to overcome this
weakness?
 2 Observation

Observations, informal and formal, are quite

important in daily workplace safety.

Employees and managers can spot

hazardous conditions and unsafe or
inappropriate behaviors while they conduct
their other tasks.
 3 The Job Hazard Analysis

The process...
Break a job or task into specific steps.
Analyze each step for specific hazardous
conditions and unsafe practices.
Develop preventive measures in each step to
eliminate or reduce the hazards.
Integrate preventive measures into training
and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Why is it important to involve the employee
in the JHA process?
What is the purpose of the incident/accident
analysis?
 Inspect to identify potential
accidents

Struck-by Caught-between
Struck-against Fall-To-surface
Contact-by Fall-To-below
Contact-with Over-exertion
Caught-on Bodily reaction
Caught-in Over-exposure
Weed out the causes of injuries and accidents
Strains
Direct Cause of
Burns
Cuts
Injury

Surface
Causes

Fails to enforce
Lack of time

N no m is s io n s ta te m e n t

Inadequate training

No discipline procedures

No orientation process

Inadequate training plan

L a c k o f v is io

No accountability policy

Root
Causes
Direct Cause of injury- A harmful transfer of energy
that produces injury or illness.

Surface Causes of accident - Specific hazardous

conditions or unsafe behaviors that result in an accident.

Root Causes of the accident - Common behaviors

and conditions that ultimately result in an accident.
 Analyze to Determine Risk

Probability
Unlikely to Certain
Severity
Other than serious -
Serious physical harm -
Death -
Factors that increase risk
The number of employees exposed;
The frequency and duration of exposure;
The proximity of employees to the point of danger;
Potential severity of the injury or illness
Factors that require work under stress;
Factors that increase severity;
Lack of proper training and supervision or improper
workplace design; or
Other factors which may significantly affect the degree of
probability of an accident occurring.
 Whats the Bottom Line on
Accident costs?

Total Claims: 25,662

Average Cost: $11,678

Fatalities
Average Cost: $300,000
 CONTROLLING HAZARDS

Hazard + Exposure Accident

1. Engineering Controls - design tools, equipment,

machinery, materials, facilities
 Hazard + Exposure Accident

2. Management Controls - Attempt to limit exposure to

hazards.
Why are engineering control considered to
be superior to work practice or
administrative controls?
Control hazards with effective
education and training
If it isnt in writingit didnt get done

DOCUMENT TRAINING!
Sample training certification for specific tasks
Trainee certification
Trainer certification
Supervisor validation
 Personal Protective Equipment

What might be some of the drawbacks of

reliance solely on PPE to protect workers?

Interim measures
Effective Maintenance Processes

Two equipment maintenance programs

1. Preventive Maintenance to make sure equipment

and machinery runs safely and smoothly.
2. Corrective Maintenance to make sure equipment
gets back into safe service quickly.

How can we make sure corrective maintenance is

completed quickly?
 Whats the Bottom Line on
Accident costs?

Total
Total Claims:
Claims: 25,662
25,662
Average
Average Cost:
Cost: $11,678
$11,678
Fatalities
Fatalities
Average
Average Cost:
Cost: $300,000
$300,000
Discussion!