Hazard elimination

Occupational hazards
Physical Chemical Biological Psychosocial
Hierarchy of hazard controls
Elimination Substitution Engineering controls Administrative controls Personal protective equipment
Occupational hygiene
Occupational exposure limit Exposure assessment Workplace exposure monitoring
Study
Occupational toxicology Occupational epidemiology Workplace health surveillance
Connected topics
NIOSH ratings Source control Workplace hazard controls for COVID-19
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Hazard elimination is a hazard control strategy based on completely removing a material or process causing a hazard. Elimination is the most effective of the five members of the hierarchy of hazard controls in protecting workers, and where possible should be implemented before all other control methods.^[1][2][3] Many jurisdictions require that an employer eliminate hazards if it is possible, before considering other types of hazard control.^[4][5]

Elimination is most effective early in the design process, when it may be inexpensive and simple to implement. It is more difficult to implement for an existing process, when major changes in equipment and procedures may be required.^[2] Elimination can fail as a strategy if the hazardous process or material is reintroduced at a later stage in the design or production phases.^[6]

The complete elimination of hazards is a major component to the philosophy of Prevention through Design, which promotes the practice of eliminating hazards at the earliest design stages of a project.^[7] Complete elimination of a hazard is often the most difficult control to achieve, but addressing it at the start of a project allows designers and planners to make large changes much more easily without the need to retrofit or redo work.

Understanding the 5 main hazard areas is a major part of assessing risks on a jobsite. The 5 main hazard areas are materials, environmental hazards, equipment hazards, people hazards, and system hazards. Materials can bring the hazards of inhalation, absorption, and ingestion. Equipment hazards are related taking the proper precautions to machinery and tools. People can create hazards by becoming distracted, taking shortcuts, using machinery when impaired, and general fatigue. System hazards is the practice of making sure employees are properly trained for their job, and ensuring that proper safety precautions are set in place.^[8]