MODULE
5: HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL
The Four Hazard Areas
All workplace hazards
exist in four general areas:
o
Materials
o Equipment,
machinery, tools
o Environment
o Employees
Hazardous
Work Practices
- Workers who take unsafe
short cuts, or who are using established procedures that are unsafe, are
accidents waiting to happen. As mentioned earlier, hazardous work practices
represent about 95% of the causes of all accidents in the workplace.
- Management may unintentionally
promote unsafe work practices by establishing policies, procedures and rules
(written and unwritten) that ignore or actually direct unsafe work practices.
These safety policies, plans, programs, processes, procedures and practices
are called "system controls" and ultimately represent the causes
of about 98% of all workplace accidents.