Safety Tidbit 5.11 - Hierarchy of Control

Safety Tidbit 5.11 – Hierarchy of Control

Reference: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/controlhazards.html

This Safety Tidbit was written by my student, Mr. Carey Okoth – a senior in the Safety Sciences Program at the Indiana University of PA graduating Summer 2020.

A fundamental and globally used method of protecting employees from exposures to occupational hazards has been controlling exposures. A hierarchy of controls have been used throughout the years to determine how to use effective control solutions. Hierarchy of controls is a prevention through design kind of model which means that it includes prevention consideration in all designs that impact workers. Elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and PPE are what makes up the hierarchy of controls. Elimination is the most effective type of control since it gets rid of the exposure/hazard while PPE is the least effective.

Elimination and substitution are the most effective at reducing hazards but are the most difficult and very costly to implement in an already existing and working process. Elimination and substitution might be simple to implement or less costly if the design is still at the early phases(development stage). Engineering controls are next in line right after elimination and substitution controls. Engineering controls mainly remove the hazard from the source before it comes into contact with the employee. Well-designed engineering controls can be highly effective in protecting workers and will be independent of worker interactions hence enhancing this level of control protection. The initial cost of installing engineering controls might be higher than PPE and administrative controls but in the long run, the operating costs tend to be lower and save the company money in different processes.

Administrative controls and PPE are the last processes in the hierarchy of controls. These controls are usually used with existing processes where hazards cannot be eliminated or engineered. Administrative controls and PPE are not expensive to install but very costly to maintain.  These controls require a lot of effort and cooperation by the employees who are using the control in order for the controls to work effectively.

Hope this was helpful and thank you for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have a new safety or health question, please let me know.