Identifying and Controlling Hazards
Course 101
Safety Certified Supervisor Series

MODULE ONE: BASIC CONCEPTS

Six-Step Process

Are you sure you know all of the potential hazards generally associated with your type of business and your specific working conditions? A strategy to systematically identify and analyze all workplace hazards would be useful. In this course we'll be taking a look at one successful strategy that is summarized below:

1. Identifying workplace hazards. Identifying hazards is accomplished through the use of a variety of methods including observation and periodic surveys and inspections.
   
   
2. Analyzing the workplace. Beyond initial identification, analysis takes a much closer look to determine the nature and impact of specific hazardous conditions or unsafe work practices. Methods include: change analysis of the potential hazards in new facilities, equipment, materials, and processes; and routine hazard analysis, such as job hazard analysis, process hazard analysis, management system analysis, or phase hazard analysis.
   
   
3. Developing solutions. Once hazards are identified, analyzed and understood, effective problem solving techniques are used to determine the source of those hazards. A critical analysis of root cause(s) should be conducted.
   
   
4. Writing recommendations. Once solutions are found, it becomes important to offering effective recommendations that "sell" management on the solutions you have developed. There are some do's and don't's to effective recommendations that we'll discuss later in the course.
   
   
5. Taking action. After recommendations have been approved, carefully plan and implement the necessary improvements.
   
   
6. Evaluating the results. To ensure changes are effective long term, continuous evaluation through monitoring and feedback are necessary to revise and improve the changes made.

The above process, when accomplished systematically, will help ensure your workers experience freedom from conditions in the workplace that can cause death, injury, illness, or equipment damage. That, after all, is "safety."