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Written by pdcsafety on July 6th, 2008

PDCA Hierarchy of Controls

A hierarchy is a system of persons or things ranked one above the other. PDC Safety provides a systematic Safety at work way of thinking, considering steps in a ranked and sequential order, to choose your most effective ways of eliminating or limiting risk and hazards using PDCA (plan, do, check,act).

The outcome of actions taken are to be acceptable risk levels by minimizing each of the two distinct aspects of risk:

  1. Avoiding, eliminating, or reducing the probability of a hazards-related incident or exposure occurring
  2. Reducing the severity of harm or damage that may result, if an incident or exposure occurs

There are four basic levels of action:

  1. Ameliorating actions
  2. Preventive actions
  3. Personal performance
  4. Contingent actions

Goals within the hierarchy of Controls:

  • Avoid work methods that create overly stressful situations in the workplace
  • Minimize Human Era
  • Reducing performance that goes beyond the operator
  • Limiting fatigue factors
  • Providing adequate facilities and information for the employee or equipment operator
  • Eliminate or reduce dangerous methods
  • Designing systems so that human interaction with equipment reduces safety at work situations
  • Reduce or minimize the use of personal protective equipment

Among the hierarchy of Controls, companies need to incorporate safety devices into engineering designs to eliminate or reduce risk levels with devices such as:

  • Machine guards
  • Ventilation systems
  • Interlock systems
  • Safety nets
  • Circuit breakers
  • Start-up alarms
  • Sensor devices
  • Sound systems
  • Fall protection controls

This is just a few examples of engineering controls you can incorporate into the design of equipment to limit risk to your operators. Brainstorm with fellow managers and colleagues to come up with as many engineering controls as possible.

You will also need to consider Warning Systems such as signs, signals, training, emergency drills to alert your operators when using dangerous equipment. You should include smoke detectors, backup systems, signs and even produce standard operating procedures (SOP) or manuals to help protect your workers.

A critical step in creating your Hierarchy of Controls is selling the administration on the need to stress the importance of safety first. One of the best ways to prevent or limit incidents in the workplace is to hire employees that have a deep sense of safety consciousness. Other administrative controls are:

  • Again - personnel selection
  • Developing proper standard operating procedures
  • Training your employees
  • Work scheduling
  • Job rotation
  • Maintenance upkeep

The last thing you will need to put in place to develop your Hierarchy of Controls is personal protective equipment. The proper use of PPE relies on a supervisors actions toward using gear correctly. Don't just talk about using PPE, walk the walk by wearing and using PPE. Lead by example. The following is just the minimum in PPE:

  • Safety glasses
  • Boots
  • Gloves
  • Face shields
  • Hearing Protection
  • Coveralls and work attire
  • Respirators

For many high risk situations and even lower risk situations, a combination of the risk methods discussed in this PDCA - hierarchy of controls is necessary to achieving acceptable risk levels within your Safety at Work.