Introduction

Even within organizations with the best of safety and health management systems, both the line organization and safety and health professionals can overlook hazards. Therefore, multiple techniques must be used to recognize potential hazards so that controls can be implemented to prevent unwanted events such as injury, illness, and property damage. There are many hazard recognition techniques, and almost all organizations need to use a variety of techniques in order to be more assured that hazards are recognized. See Table 1 for a list of the most common and most effective hazard recognition techniques.

Table 1. The Most Common Hazard Recognition Techniques.

  • OSHA Required PPE Hazard Assessment 1910.132(d)

  • OSHA Required Demolition Plan 1926.850(a)

  • Pre Job Safety Analysis

  • Start-of-Shift Hazard Assessment

  • Risk Mapping

  • Blueprint Reviews

  • Turnaround and Outage Planning

  • New Equipment Reviews

  • New Chemical Purchases

  • New Chemical Equipment Reviews

  • Permitting (Confined Space Entry, Hot Work, Lift Plans, Hot Taps, Barricading, Scaffold Tagging, Working Alone, Excavations and Working Overhead are examples)

  • S/H/E Project Reviews

  • Training and Education

  • Perception Surveys

  • Management of Change

  • Safety by Design

  • Last Minute Safety Checks – The Ten Second Drill, Out of View Observations, Looking for Differences and Pre Use Equipment Inspections

  • What If?

  • Behavioral Observations

  • Inspections and Audits

  • Job Safety Analysis, Job Hazard Analysis, Job Safety and Health Analysis

  • Activity Safety Analysis

  • Documentation Reviews

  • Hazard Operability Studies

  • Employee Suggestion Systems

  • Work Orders

  • Incident Investigation/Analysis

  • Action Critiques

  • Safety Policy Reviews

  • Demolition Audits

Every organization needs techniques that are effective for different personnel within the organization. There must be techniques that the safety and health professionals can use, that supervisors and managers can use and that the individual employee performing the job or task can use before the job or task is started.

When Can Hazards Be Recognized?

There are three opportunities to recognize hazards.

  1. Before Exposure to the Hazard: The hazards should be initially recognized in the planning, design and preparation phase. This is the best time to recognize potential hazards because at this point, no one has been exposed to any hazards. There should be adequate time allowed to review the upcoming job and determine what hazards may be presented.

  2. During Exposure to the Potential Hazards: After the job, task, or operation has started, hazards can be found preferably before an unwanted event occurs.

  3. After Exposure to the Hazard Ceases: After exposure has occurred, recognition may be the result of an incident such as an injury or illness, or could be the result of a critique or review of the task or job just performed. This phase also includes review of work permits, policies and procedures, and debriefing of the individuals that took part in the job.

To be effective, multiple techniques may be required to be used simultaneously or back-to-back to find hazards.

Keywords:
consumer health, inspection, exposure, management system, field employee, Health & Medicine, personal protective equipment, hazard, personnel, potential hazard
Subjects:
Safety
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2009. American Society of Safety Engineers
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