Barry Spud’s Hazard Control Tips – The Hierarchy Of Hazard Control
Barry Spud tells: “The Hierarchy of Hazard Control (I call it the “HOHC”) is the one of the main weapons, in the Safety Crusader’s arsenal, in the war on lost time injuries. It takes a certifiable Safety Expert like myself to know when elimination of the hazard is just not practical or possible. It’s then, and only then, that we must implement accepted engineering control practices (I demonstrate this in the photograph below). If management really cared about safety, and gave me an unlimited budget, I could have constructed a bridge over this hazard – but I just cannot get them to listen.
Of course, in this example, less experienced Safety People, like yourselves, would probably have suggested lower order controls from the HOHC such as implementing banana peel avoidance procedures, substituting with an orange peel or the wearing of ice cleats and padded trouser seats. Trust me, I have tried all of these methods and my data indicates only a 63.563% success rate.
I don’t expect you be be as skilled and experienced in safety as me until next week, but hope my insight takes you one step closer to your goal of achieving nothing (I call that “Zero Harm”). Call me next time you make a mistake and I’ll be sure you get all the blame you deserve. Getting a perfect safety culture is simple – its 64% compliance, 19% choice and 28% common sense”
See Barry’s other tips: How to Safely Pick Up Chicks and A Revolutionary New Online Safety System and I cant believe that nobody was seriously injured
The inspiration for this article: Max Geyer’s piece “WHS Legislation is NOT about Safety it’s about Culture”.
Barry Spud
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