Workforce exposure to all current and potential hazards should be prevented or controlled by using engineering controls, wherever feasible and appropriate, work practices and administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE). There is an order or priority when it comes to evaluating controls. The best controls are those that work at the source of the problem; the least desirable are those that control the exposure when it gets to the worker. The further from the source, the less desirable or effective is the control. The hierarchy is follows:
Best: At the source
Second Best: Along the Path
Least Desirable: At the worker
Every particular process must be evaluated individually to determine the optimal method of control. In some cases it will be necessary to combine a number of different methods to control successfully and completely a particular hazard or dangerous process.
Recommendations
- Identify hazards that may be eliminated and set this as a priority
- If some hazards can not be eliminated, then use a combination of control methods to protect worker from being exposed
- Control methods must be appropriate to controlling the hazard, communicated clearly to management and workers, and use of primary importance
- Non use or misuse of control methods should be dealt with immediately
- Provide each employee a "tool kit" including personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety devices such as a ground fault interrupter utility cord
- Utilize Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) with chemical products to establish safe handling and use practices, to understand symptoms of exposure and to identify safer products to substitute as alternatives
- Develop skills in saying "no thank you" or declining use of patients "tools"
- Use newspapers to set bags on or to sit on. Put bags on table or chair but not on the floor
- Hand washing
- Prioritize hazards using data collected, complaints, or accident reports
Self Study
Complete the activity to develop hazard control responses in the areas of chemical control and ergonomics.
