Administrative control of hazards

Earlier chapters introduced us to the many types of hazards in the workplace. Controlling those hazards involves the recognition, evaluation, and elimination of the hazard in the woik-place. If the hazard cannot be eliminated, it must be minimized as much as possible. When hazards cannot be engineered out of the workplace, administrative controls are the next logical step in hazard reduction. Administrative controls are procedures put into place to limit employee exposure to hazards. Their function is to influence worker behavior to follow operational, safety, and environmental procedures. Enforcement of the procedures may have penalties that vary in severity but can include employee termination of employment. 

The tesponsibilities of employees, contractors, and supervisors are clearly defined in the administrative procedures. Some procedures, rather than identify individual responsibilities, state all employees and contractors are required to follow this procedure. Employees are trained on administrative procedures when hired and receive refresher training on a determined periodic basis. Hard copies or electronic copies of the procedures should be readily accessible to employees. 

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WAC. 1988. Control of hazardous pollutants. Chapter NR 445. Wisconsin Administrative Code. Department of Natural Resources. 

Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout Tagout), 29 CFR 1910.147, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Sept. 1, 1989. 

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is last in the hierarchy of hazard control. PPE is less desirable than engineering and administrative controls for the control of hazards but is still critical. The appropriate PPE fitted correctly is a reliable barrier against known hazards. The biggest drawback against PPE is that some workers are careless about their selection of PPE for a job and choose ineffective PPE or they do not ensure that it is properly fitted and used. The function of PPE is to protect the user s entire body, including the respiratory system, eyes, hearing, head, hands, etc. 

Safety Basis means the combination of information relating to the control of hazards at a nuclear facility (including design, engineering analyses, and administrative controls) upon which DOE depends for its conclusion that activities at the facility can be conducted safely. 

The potential for explosions internal to the HCF proper to result in a release of radiological material was considered in the identification of hazards and Section 3.3.2.1. The likelihood and severity of an explosion is limited by administrative control of the quantity of volatile materials in... 

The prevention and control of hazards can be accomplished in many ways. The primary way is through the reporting of hazards by employees and the correction of hazards by supervisors or other company qualified personnel. Second, employers can use preventive maintenance programs, special emphasis programs, training, workplace audits, engineering controls, administrative controls, and, as a last resort, personal protective equipment. 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates lockout/tagout through the Control of Hazardous Energy standard, found at 29 CFR 1910.147. This standard mandates training, audits, and recordkeeping to ensure that workers will not be in-jvu ed by unintentionally energized equipment. 

The management of risk is a strategic approach to health and safety that organisations must adopt in order to control the hazards that employees, contractors, community residents and others are exposed to. It requires more than just a focus on the hazard itself. The control of hazards requires organisational and administrative processes in order to be effective. Those processes need to be in place to influence the behaviours of directors, managers, supervisors and employees so that harm does not occur. They should also be bound together by a policy and their effectiveness established by measurement, review and audit. A structure to accommodate these processes is necessary if the risks from hazards are to be controlled. Its success is demonstrated when the hazard has been eliminated. Elimination is the first step in the risk control hierarchy. 

Thank you for your March 9, 2006, letter to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration s (OSHA) Directorate of Enforcement Programs. You stated that you represent a company in the baking industry with production facilities in different states and have questions regarding Federal OSHA s Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout or LOTOjand Bakery equipment standards, 29 CFR 1910.147 and 1910.263, respectively. Your scenarios, paraphrased questions and our replies follow. 

U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safely and Health Administration 29 CFR Part 1910, Occupational Safety and Health Standards for General Industry, Subpart S, Electrical, 1910.301 to 1910.399 including 1910.331 through 1910.335 Electrical Safely Related Woik Practices Subpart J, General Environmental Controls, 1910.147, The Control of Hazardous Energy Sources (Lockout/Tagout) 29 CFR Part 1926, Occupational Safety and Health Standards for the Construction Industry, Subpart K, Electrical, 1926.400 to 1926.449... 

Short development time Allocate enough time for development may result in a less than, more time-efficient PEIA techniques complete knowledge of the hazards administrative controls to decide when to go to full scale production Establish minimum requirements transfer package for process knowledge Require development chemist to be present during initial product runs API RP 750 CCPS G-1 CCPS G-10 CCPS G-25... 

Operation includes nonual start-up, normal and emergency shutdown, and most activities performed by die production team. Whilst inlierently safe plant design limits inventories of hazardous substances, inherently safe operation ensures die number of individuals at risk are minimized. Access to die plant for non-essendal operational people such as maintenance engineers, post staff, administrators, quality control samplers, warehouse staff delivering raw material or plant items or collecting finished product, members of security, visitors etc., must be controlled. 

The identification of hazards includes both a search for those hazards reduced or eliminated by inherently safer design, and a search for hazards controlled by instmmentation and administrative procedures. 

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