Control Methods of Health Hazards in the Work Environment

Health hazards in the workplace, such as chemicals, air pollutants and potential structural dangers, can be controlled in a variety of ways. The goal of hazard control is to protect all workers, as well as surrounding communities, from harm in the occupational environment. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration offers a standardized "hierarchy of controls" for addressing health hazards in the workplace.

Elimination

• The International Labor Organization, which upholds the OSHA standards for hazard control, states that the most effective means of control is to eliminate the hazard entirely or to prevent it from entering the workplace. It is best to eliminate possible hazards at the planning stages of designing a workplace environment. This method is more cost-effective than later-stage interventions, and moreover, prevents workers from being exposed to harms.

Substitution

• If it is not possible to completely eliminate a particular hazard or hazardous work process, then it should be substituted with a safer alternative. For instance, if an agricultural job requires the use of pesticides, consider replacing current varieties with less toxic alternatives. Additionally, the way in which a job is performed can be altered to reduce its health risks to workers. An example of this approach is the use of protective masks when cleaning dust from industrial processes, or the practice of using a wet rather than dry mop to minimize the amount of harmful particles in the air.

Engineering

• Engineering controls are structural interventions to minimize the impact of a workplace health hazard. The most common engineering controls are isolation, enclosure and ventilation. Isolation means moving a hazardous substance or process to a part of the workplace where fewer people are exposed. Enclosure is a process that prevents workers from coming into contact with dangerous substances or equipment. Examples of enclosure include building guards around dangerous machinery, and ensuring that no amount of harmful gases enter the air. Ventilation, which improves the climate and air quality of the workspace, is a form of engineering control that helps to ensure that temperatures are neither too hot nor to cold, and reduces the amount of particulate matter in the air that workers breathe.

Administration

• Administrative controls protect workers from exposure to health hazards by designing schedules to ensure a minimum contact with harm. Administrative controls include providing workers with longer break periods or shorter daily schedules, rotating workers between harmful and less harmful functions, and overseeing worker training in safety procedures.

Work Practices

• OSHA standards require that industries adopt basic hazard control policies, such as fall protection, evacuation procedures, policies for limiting the spread of blood-born pathogens, and toxic material handling. Accompanying these policies are regulations for the use of personal protective equipment, such as masks and gloves. However, the OSHA standards maintain that personal protective equipment is a last resort in hazard control and should only be relied on when other control methods are not feasible.