Even within organizations with the best safety and health management systems, both the line organization and safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals can overlook hazards. Therefore, effective 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. Many hazard recognition techniques exist, and almost all organizations need to use a variety of techniques in order to be more assured that hazards are recognized. Table 1 lists the most common and most effective hazard recognition techniques.

Every organization needs techniques that are effective for different personnel in the organization. There should be techniques for SH&E professionals (such as Risk Mapping), supervisors and managers (such as walk-through audits), and the individual employee performing the task (such as the Final Safety Checks). Many techniques can be used by all members of an organization (such as Job Safety Analysis and behavioral observations), but others will require a higher level of trained and equipped personnel to use (such as Process Hazard Analysis and testing circuits with electrical test equipment). Your challenge is to identify every task that occurs in your work place and assure that there is a layer of hazard recognition techniques to identify the hazards.

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