CSP key terms

Ranked approach to reducing risk that starts with eliminating the hazard and proceeds through substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment.

Principle that risk should be reduced as low as reasonably practicable, balancing the cost and difficulty of further controls against the benefit of reduced harm.

Process that identifies hazards, evaluates the likelihood and severity of harm, and determines whether risk is acceptable or needs controls.

Process of recognizing sources of potential harm and the conditions or activities that could expose people, property, or the environment to that harm.

Step-by-step method that breaks a task into stages, identifies hazards at each stage, and defines controls before work begins.

Structured team technique that examines a process line by line using guide words to find deviations from design intent and their potential consequences.

Early-stage technique that lists hazards, assesses their severity and likelihood, and identifies controls before detailed design or operations begin.

Grid that combines likelihood and severity ratings to rank risks and help decide, in a consistent way, which risks need treatment first.

Physical changes to equipment, processes, or workplaces, such as guards, ventilation, or interlocks, that reduce hazard exposure without relying on worker behavior.

Work practices, procedures, training, scheduling, and signage that reduce exposure to hazards by changing how work is organized or performed.

Equipment worn or used by a worker, such as gloves, respirators, or hearing protection, that creates a barrier between the person and a hazard.

Energy control procedure that isolates hazardous energy sources and applies locks and tags so equipment cannot be started or release stored energy during service.

Space with limited entry or exit, not designed for continuous occupancy, and containing or potentially containing a serious safety or health hazard requiring a permit.

Barriers, interlocks, or devices that prevent workers from contacting dangerous moving parts or entering pinch points on machinery.

Systems and practices, such as guardrails, harnesses, and anchorage, that prevent falls or arrest them before a worker strikes a lower level.

Process of measuring or estimating how much of a hazardous agent a worker or community may contact, and judging whether that exposure is acceptable.

Regulatory or advisory maximum concentration or dose of a workplace hazard intended to protect most workers from adverse health effects over a working lifetime.

Structured set of policies, procedures, and processes an organization uses to manage safety, health, and environmental risks and continually improve performance.

Continuous improvement cycle in which an organization plans changes, implements them, checks results, and acts on findings to improve performance.

Proactive measure, such as training completion or inspection frequency, that reflects preventive activities and can signal future safety performance.

Retrospective measure, such as injury rates or lost-time incidents, that records outcomes after they occur and shows past performance.

Systematic, documented review that compares workplace conditions and practices with defined standards to identify gaps and drive correction.

Top-management evaluation of safety, health, and environmental performance and system suitability, used to set priorities and allocate resources for improvement.

Structured method for finding the underlying systemic reasons an incident occurred, rather than stopping at the immediate or proximate cause.

Simple questioning technique that repeatedly asks why a problem occurred until the team reaches a fundamental cause that can be corrected.

Deductive diagramming method that starts with an undesired event and traces backward through contributing failures and conditions to identify causes.

Cause-and-effect diagram that organizes possible causes of a problem into categories such as people, equipment, methods, materials, measurement, and environment.

Formal process for gathering facts, determining causes, and recommending corrective actions after an injury, illness, near miss, or property damage event.

Unplanned event that did not cause injury or damage but had the potential to do so under slightly different circumstances.

Written document that defines roles, notification methods, evacuation routes, assembly points, and response procedures for foreseeable emergencies.

Protective strategy in which people stay inside a building and close windows, doors, and ventilation to avoid exposure to an outdoor hazard.

Practice exercise that tests whether occupants can leave a facility promptly and safely using planned routes and procedures and reach assembly areas.

Planned actions to contain, control, and clean up released hazardous substances while protecting responders, the public, and the environment.

Condition of meeting mandatory legal requirements set by government agencies, including permits, recordkeeping, training, and exposure limits.

Voluntary standard developed by a recognized body through stakeholder agreement, often used to establish good practice or to support regulatory requirements.

Shared values, attitudes, and behaviors in an organization that determine how seriously safety is treated and how people act when no one is watching.

Process that observes work behaviors, gives feedback, and reinforces safe practices while identifying barriers to safe work; it focuses on observable actions rather than attitudes.

Practice of reducing or eliminating waste and emissions at the source through process changes, material substitution, or efficient operations rather than treating them later.

Approach to operations that seeks to meet present needs while protecting environmental resources, worker well-being, and community health for the future.

Design of work, tools, and equipment to fit human capabilities, reduce strain and fatigue, prevent musculoskeletal injury, and improve performance.