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Basic Safety 101, “Control Measures.” . Two basic requirements for all safety programs are that they identify the specific hazards in the workplace and describe the measures you will take to reduce those hazards. These are called “control measures.”
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Basic Safety 101, “Control Measures.” Two basic requirements for all safety programs are that they identify the specific hazards in the workplace and describe the measures you will take to reduce those hazards. These are called “control measures.” Control measures are actions or procedures that reduce or eliminate a hazard, and they fall into three categories: engineering, administrative, and Personal Protective Equipment.
Engineering Controls Generally, an engineering control measure should always be attempted first. An engineering control is the elimination or reduction of a hazard by physically altering the design, layout or configuration of the hazard source. For example: An air compressor in a warehouse generates 103 decibels of sound and it runs most of the day. This is more than enough to require a hearing conservation program for employees working in the same area. One engineering solution to the noise problem might be to move it outside the building and enclose it in a soundproof shed to remove the hazard from the workplace. Another might be to install a more modern compressor that doesn’t exceed the threshold noise level of 85 decibels.
Administrative Controls An administrative control is the second best choice. In the compressor example, that could mean rotating the employees that are exposed to the noise hazard with other employees from other areas of the warehouse, so that they split up the exposure and prevent any one of them from being continuously exposed and exceeding the allowable levels.
PPE Controls PPE should always be the control measure of last resort for worker protection. The fundamental flaw of all PPE is the ongoing potential for human error through incorrect use or improper fit. In our example, an appropriate type of PPE would be ear plugs or other hearing protection. But either the engineering or the administrative control could accomplish the goal of protecting the employees from hearing loss without relying on them to maintain constant attention to proper PPE use. Neither of these methods requires PPE, and both options lower the noise exposures to a point where a hearing protection program isn’t necessary.
