Hierarchy Archives | Machinery Safety 101

16 January, 2012

The Third Level of the Hierarchy: Information for Use

I’ve written about the Hierarchy of Controls in past posts. I’ve focused on the engineering side of the control equation: Physical changes to machine design to eliminate hazards and mechanical or electrical control systems that can reduce risk. The first two levels of the Hierarchy, Elimination/Substitution and Engineering Controls are typically more challenging to apply…

21 June, 2011

Hockey Teams and Risk Reduction or What Makes Roberto Luongo = PPE

by Doug Nix

in Canada, Control Functions, EU European Union, General, Guards and Guarding, Hazards, Hierarchy of Controls, International, Risk Assessment /

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Special Co-Author, Tom Doyle Last week we saw the Boston Bruins earn the Stanley Cup. I was rooting for the green, blue and white, and the ruin of my voice on Thursday was ample evidence that no amount of cheering helped. While watching the game with friends and colleagues, I realized that Roberto Luongo and…

28 February, 2011

Understanding the Hierarchy of Controls

by Kimberly Nix

in Canada, CE Mark, Complementary Protective Measures, Control Functions, Control Reliability, Emergency Stop, EU European Union, Functional Safety, General, Guards and Guarding, Hazardous Energy Control Procedures, Hierarchy of Controls, Interlocks, Interlocks, Lockout, Ontario, Risk Assessment, Robotics, USA /

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The Hierarchy of Controls illustrated as an inverted triangle with each level of the hierarchy written one above the other, starting with Inherently Sfe design, then Engineering Controls, then Information for Use, then Administrative Controls and finally descending to PPE at the bottom. An arrow with the text "Effectiveness" on it runs parallel to the triangle and points downward from Inherently safe design to PPE.

(Eds. note: This article was originally written in 2011 and was updated in Nov. 2018.) The “Hierarchy of Controls” is one approach to risk reduction that has become entrenched in the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) sector. There are other approaches to risk reduction which are equally effective but are less rigidly structured. If you…