Run a hazard walk-around with a checklist and rank fixes with the hierarchy of controls.
Why it matters
Most injuries happen around hazards that someone could have seen: a cord across a walkway, an unguarded edge, a ladder on loose gravel. Experienced workers are not braver; they have trained their eyes. A short, structured walk-around before work starts is one of the cheapest safety tools there is.
Hazard, risk and control
- A hazard is anything that can cause harm: a moving belt, a 3 m drop, a solvent, noise, a live conductor.
- Risk combines how likely harm is and how bad it would be.
- A control is what you do to reduce the risk.
Hazard categories to scan for
Use categories so you do not miss whole families of hazards:
| Category | Examples on a site or shop floor |
|---|---|
| Falls and walking surfaces | open edges, floor holes, ladders, wet or cluttered floors |
| Struck-by / caught-in | moving vehicles, swinging loads, rotating shafts, trench collapse |
| Electrical | damaged cords, open panels, overhead lines, wet locations |
| Chemical | solvents, dust (silica), fumes, unlabelled containers |
| Physical | noise, heat, cold, vibration, poor lighting |
| Ergonomic | heavy lifting, awkward reaching, repetitive tasks |
| Fire | hot work near combustibles, blocked extinguishers or exits |
In US construction, OSHA calls falls, struck-by, caught-in/between and electrocution the Focus Four hazards because they cause most deaths.
The hierarchy of controls
NIOSH ranks controls from most to least effective:
- Elimination: remove the hazard (assemble the roof truss on the ground instead of at height).
- Substitution: replace it with something less hazardous (a water-based cleaner instead of a solvent).
- Engineering controls: isolate people from the hazard (guardrails, machine guards, local exhaust ventilation).
- Administrative controls: change how people work (procedures, signs, training, job rotation, permits).
- PPE: protect the individual (hard hat, gloves, harness, hearing protection).
PPE is last because it depends on every person wearing it correctly every time, and it does nothing to the hazard itself. Good fixes often combine levels.
How to run a walk-around
- Pick the area and the task. "Bay 3 during the pump change" beats "the whole plant".
- Use a checklist built from the categories above. Walk slowly. Look up (overhead loads, lines), down (holes, cords, spills) and around (vehicles, moving parts).
- Write down what you see, where it is, and why it is a hazard. A phone photo helps if your site allows it.
- Rate each item. A simple scale: likelihood 1–3 × severity 1–3. Anything scoring 6 or 9 needs action before work starts.
- Propose a control, starting at the top of the hierarchy.
- Report it to the person who can fix it, and follow up.
Worked example
A walk-around of a small maintenance shop found:
| Hazard | Where | L | S | Score | Proposed control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extension cord across aisle | by bench grinder | 3 | 2 | 6 | Move the grinder next to an outlet (elimination); cord cover until then |
| Grinder tool rest gap too wide | bench grinder | 2 | 3 | 6 | Adjust per the manual (engineering); add to the weekly check |
| Extinguisher blocked by pallets | north wall | 2 | 3 | 6 | Clear and mark a keep-clear zone (administrative) |
| Loud compressor | corner | 3 | 1 | 3 | Hearing protection sign and earplugs (PPE) while an enclosure is quoted |
Notice that "wear PPE" appears only once, and as a stop-gap.
Common mistakes
- Only looking at eye level. Many serious hazards are overhead or underfoot.
- Writing vague notes like "messy". Write what, where and why.
- Jumping straight to PPE. Ask "can we remove this?" first.
- Fixing it yourself when you are not trained. Report electrical, pressure or machine faults; do not repair them.
- Never closing the loop. A list nobody acts on is worse than none, because people stop reporting.
Official sources
- NIOSH hierarchy of controls: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hierarchy-of-controls/about/index.html
- OSHA hazard identification (Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs): https://www.osha.gov/safety-management
Checked on 2026-10-23.
Recap
- Hazard = source of harm; risk = likelihood × severity; control = what reduces it.
- Scan by category and look up, down and around.
- Rank fixes with the hierarchy: elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative, PPE.
Try it
Open the Do tab and run a hazard walk-around of a room at home, a garage or a school workshop (with your instructor's permission).