Basic Hazard Awareness (Identify how workplace injuries or illnesses can affect your everyday life)

CHEMICAL & DUST HAZARDS

(cleaning products, pesticides, asbestos, etc.)

BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS

(mold, insects/pests, communicable diseases, etc.)

WORK ORGANIZATION HAZARDS
Things that cause STRESS!

ERGONOMIC HAZARDS

(repetition, lifting, awkward postures, etc.)

SAFETY HAZARDS

(slips, trips and falls, faulty equipment, etc.)

PHYSICAL HAZARDS
(noise, temperature extremes, radiation, etc.)

These are referred to as the hierarchy of controls, how you prevent or control a hazard:

Elimination/Substitution: The main goal for any fix to a hazard or exposure is to eliminate it altogether or substitute a product or method of doing the work to a less hazardous alternative. (e.g. green cleaning products)

()

The basic concept behind engineering controls is that, to the extent feasible, the work environment and the job itself should be designed to eliminate hazards or reduce exposure to hazards. While this approach is called engineering controls, it does not necessarily mean that an engineer is required to design the control. Engineering controls are the "first line of defense" against injury/illness, because they have the potential to completely eliminate a hazard, and do not rely on human behavior to be effective. For instance, rather than require employees to wear respiratory protection which must be monitored, inspected, trained, managed, it's much more effective to install a ventilation system that does not require any of those management activities or, better yet, find an alternative substitute that is less hazardous.

Administrative controls (or work practice controls) are changes in work procedures such as written safety policies, rules, supervision, schedules, and training with the goal of reducing the duration, frequency, and severity of exposure to hazardous chemicals or situations.

As with work practice controls, administrative controls normally are used in conjunction with other controls that more directly prevent or control exposure to hazard.

Personal protective equipment (PPE): A method that prevents a worker from being exposed to the hazard by something the worker wears (e.g., gloves, hardhat, of safety glasses). PPE is considered the method of last resort because PPE does nothing to reduce or eliminate the hazard. If the PPE fails, immediate exposure is the result. Examples of PPE include:

a. Special clothing: like gloves, aprons, boots, coveralls, etc.

b. Eye protection: like safety glasses or face shields

c. Hearing protection

d. Respiratory protection: for emergency or short-term protection.