Individual measure of prevention

The recognition of the hazard of a chemical is the first step of a prevention approach. From the exhaustive inventory of the sources of danger in the workplace, all the professionals of the SHE (Safety Health and Environment) team will perform a detailed assessment of chemical risks to workers at their workplace. With no possibility of replacing a hazardous substance by another which would not or would be less dangerous, professional actors of prevention must, before anything else, inform all workers about the risks of these substances. Finally, they will select, implement, and enforce collective and individual measures of prevention. It is this approach that we develop later in this chapter. 

Individual measures of prevention should never be a first-line approach. As noted in Sect. 5.3.1, the danger of a chemical may pose a risk during use or during casual contact it is, above all, to develop an approach based on collective technical prevention. If it is showed as impossible and insufficient or if a residual risk reminds after implementation, only then one will turn to ways of personnel prevention equipment (PPE). 

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