risk reduction Archives | Machinery Safety 101

26 June, 2017

ISO 13849-1 Analysis — Part 8: Fault Exclusion

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Post updated 2019-07-24. Ed. Fault Consideration & Fault Exclusion ISO 13849-1, Clause 7 [1, 7] discusses the need for fault consideration and fault exclusion. Fault consideration is examining the components and sub-systems used in the safety-related part of the control system (SRP/CS) and making a list of all possible faults. This is a non-trivial exercise!

21 June, 2011

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

by Doug Nix

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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

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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…