Hazard Analysis
This guide applies to anyone involved with hazardous procedures or materials.
Michigan Technological University requires that a hazard analysis be conducted prior
to engaging in potentially hazardous operations or using potentially hazardous materials,
in compliance with MIOSHA standards 1201, 1212 and OSHA recommended practices.
A Hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm, injuries, accidents or other undesirable
effects.
A Risk is the possibility that a personal injury, property loss or environmental harm will
occur when working with or near a hazard. When identifying the risks associated with
a hazard it is important to think about the specific types of injuries, loss or harm
that the hazard may cause.
Please follow this guide when handling all potential job hazards.
A hazard analysis or job safety analysis is required whether engaging in research
or workplace activities involving hazardous materials or procedures. The Hazard Identification Checklist* is designed to help you recognize hazards and guide you through a hazard analysis
process consisting of five basic steps.
- Identify the tasks
- Determine the hazards
- Identify the risks
- Developing the list of controls
- Create safe working procedures
Identify the tasks: Develop a list of tasks that are performed as part of your research.
After identifying the task, the Hazard Identification Checklist will help you determine
if there are any hazards associated with the tasks you have identified.
Determine the hazards: The checklist is an interactive form that includes a list
of nine basic hazard categories with brief descriptions of some of the typical hazards
in associated with each category. When a box is checked for a category, the form
will open and ask for information about the hazard. You will need to identify risks
that are associated with the hazard and subsequently controls that will be used to
minimize those risks.
Identify the risks: If you are not already familiar with the risks associated with
the hazards you will be working with, you will need to do some background research.
Safety resources include:
- MIOSHA regulations
- NIOSH recommendations
- Safety Publications from professional organizations
- Equipment and tool operating/instruction manuals
- Safety Data Sheets for chemicals and other hazardous materials.
- Safety information for hazardous processes.
- Safety officers associated with sponsoring organizations
- MTU office of Environmental Health and Safety
Use the Risk Rating Table to evaluate the likelihood and the consequences of a hazard
causing personal injury, property loss or environmental harm. Although risk rating is in part a subjective exercise, it is important to recognize
personal bias and the tendency to minimize risk and its consequences. For these reasons,
a thorough understanding of the hazards and risks associated with the work is essential.
Develop a list of controls: When developing the list of possible controls, think
about things you can do that will reduce the likelihood and consequences of a risk
causing personal injury, property loss or environmental harm. It may be useful to
ask these questions:
- What can go wrong with the process, the equipment, or in the environment where
you are working?
- How could it happen? What conditions could cause something to go wrong? (eg.
loss of power, control failure, lack of training, etc.)
- How likely is it to happen?
- What can you do to prevent these things or make them less likely to occur?
- Is there a different way to complete the task that does not involve the hazard?
- What are the ways to protect yourself from the hazards you have identified?
- What will you do if something goes wrong?
NOTE: When working with chemical hazards, the answers to many of these questions
may be found by referring to the Safety Data Sheet for the chemical. mtu.edu/sds.
As you develop the list of controls that can be used to eliminate or minimize the
risk, it is important to understand that some controls are more effective than others
at eliminating or minimizing risk. Use the Hierarchy of Controls table below to evaluate
the effectiveness of the controls you plan to use.
Emphasis should always be placed on the most effective methods for reducing risk.
The least effective controls are often considered as only supplemental or back-up
measures for reducing risk. For example, you should never rely on wearing a respirator
(PPE) for protection from chemical fumes when you can virtually eliminate the risk
by using a chemical fume hood (engineering control).
Do the controls you have outlined, effectively reduce the likelihood and the consequences
of these event occurring?
Creating a safe working procedure. As the final step in the hazard analysis process, you will need to use the information
that you entered on the hazard identification checklist to create a written safe working
procedure. Your procedure should identify the hazards and risks associated with your
project and provide details about the controls you will use to minimize the risks.
For example, if training will be used as a method to reduce risk, you should include
a list of the information that must be covered in the training. Similarly, if you
are working with hazardous materials or working in hazardous places your procedure
should provide a detailed description of how to safely perform the work. Your safe
working procedure should provide step by step instructions for safely completing the
task. Safe working procedure template**.
Procedures with a medium or high level risk rating should be validated by performing
a trial run. During the trial run, hazardous materials used in the experiment may
be substituted for non-hazardous materials or the size of the experiment scaled down.
The trial run will help you familiarize yourself with the equipment and the performance
of each step of the procedure. Evaluate what went well, and what did not go as planned.
Were there any unanticipated problems? close calls? Are refinements needed? Modify
your procedure accordingly based on the results of the trial run.
After the Hazard Analysis
After the hazard analysis is complete and work on the project begins, research team
members should continue to work closely as a group to ensure each other’s safety.
Learn to recognize and eliminate at-risk behavior (a leading cause for injury, accidents)
such as: bypassing established safety practices to “save time” or “doing it an easier
way;” not wearing safety glasses and other PPE; complacency resulting in unsafe work
practices; poor housekeeping; scaling up a reaction without adequate preplanning; not using safety hoods, machine
guarding or other engineering controls.
Continuously evaluate safety. What is going well? What could be done better? Are
there any close calls that indicate areas for improvement?
If incidents occur, the research group should focus on learning from the experience
and identifying additional controls and work practices that will ensure it does not
reoccur. Report incidents and seek input from others on appropriate corrective actions
