Why We Look for Hazards
How incidents begin with a hazard nobody noticed, and how this course will help you find them.
8 min
Activities: 0 of 2
You cannot control what you have not found
Every safety control — a guard, a barrier, a procedure, a pair of gloves — exists because someone first noticed a hazard. When a hazard is missed, nothing is put in place to control it. That is why many incident investigations end with the same sentence: "The hazard was not identified."
Hazard identification is the first step in managing risk. It comes before risk assessment, before choosing controls, and before writing procedures. If this step is weak, every later step is weak too.
Where hazard identification fits
- 1
1
Identify
Find the hazards: what could cause harm?
- 2
2
Assess
Judge the risk: how likely is harm, and how bad could it be?
- 3
3
Control
Decide and apply controls to remove or reduce the risk.
- 4
4
Check
Make sure the controls are in place and working, and look again when things change.
Two examples
Why is hazard identification the most important first step?
Put the steps of managing risk in order
- 1Assess the risk
- 2Check the controls work and look again when things change
- 3Apply controls
- 4Identify the hazards