What Are Critical Elements

Critical safety elements are elements including environmental and employee factors that need to be controlled constantly to prevent accidental losses from occurring. The safety management system should contain some 70 key areas that need to be controlled. They include items such as safety training, safe work procedures, management involvement, energy and chemical control systems, and housekeeping. These are critical safety system elements. 

Critical safety elements are those elements most likely to give rise to losses. Past experience based on thousands of safety inspections and audits has shown that control over certain aspects of the workplace and work practices can significantly reduce accidental losses. Many of these critical elements are requirements of safety and health legislation. 

Controlling critical safety elements is pre-contact control. This is effort directed toward the prevention of undesired events. Once controls over certain critical elements are exercised, proactive safety is practiced. This determines the difference between a proactive and a reactive safety cnltnre. 

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