Industrial Engineer Industrial Safety key terms

A ranked system for reducing risk: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment. Higher levels are generally more effective and reliable because they do not depend on individual behavior.

A four-phase cycle for continuously improving a safety management system: plan objectives and processes, implement them, check results against targets, and act to correct and standardize gains.

A structured set of policies, procedures, responsibilities, and resources for managing safety risks. It typically includes hazard identification, risk assessment, operational controls, training, incident reporting, and performance monitoring.

A periodic, top-level evaluation of a safety management system's suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness. Inputs include audit results, incident trends, and performance metrics; outputs include decisions on resources and improvement actions.

A binding legal requirement issued by a government agency that establishes minimum safety obligations for employers and workers. Compliance is mandatory and enforced through inspections, citations, and penalties.

A voluntary technical standard developed and approved by a recognized standards body through a balanced committee process. It reflects accepted practice but is not law unless adopted by a regulation or contract.

A document that provides practical guidance on how to comply with legal duties. It is not usually binding by itself, but it can be used as evidence of expected practice in enforcement or legal proceedings.

A source or situation with the potential to cause harm, damage, or adverse health effects. Hazards can be physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, psychosocial, or organizational in nature.

A systematic process for recognizing and documenting existing and potential hazards in a workplace or activity. It uses methods such as inspections, task analysis, incident review, and employee consultation.

A method that breaks a task into sequential steps, identifies hazards at each step, and specifies controls. It is often used to develop safe work procedures and to train workers on task-specific risks.

The combination of the likelihood of a hazardous event and the severity of harm that could result. Risk is often expressed qualitatively, semi-quantitatively, or quantitatively to support prioritization.

The process of evaluating risk by identifying hazards, analyzing likelihood and severity, and determining whether risk is tolerable. It provides the basis for selecting and prioritizing controls.

A grid that plots likelihood against severity to assign a risk rating. It helps prioritize hazards and decide on urgency of action, but its scales must be clearly defined to avoid inconsistent judgments.

The selection and implementation of measures to modify risk, such as avoiding the activity, reducing likelihood or severity, transferring risk, or accepting residual risk. Controls follow the hierarchy of controls.

The risk that remains after controls have been applied. It must be evaluated against tolerability criteria and communicated to affected workers, with further action taken if it is not acceptable.

The study of human body dimensions and their variability across populations. It is used to design workspaces, tools, and equipment that fit the intended user population and reduce strain.

The discipline of designing work, equipment, and environments to fit human physical and cognitive capabilities and limitations. Its goal is to reduce musculoskeletal disorders, errors, and fatigue while improving performance.

Lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing, or pulling loads by hand. It is a major cause of musculoskeletal injury, so risk assessments consider load weight, posture, frequency, and distance.

An injury or disorder affecting muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints, or nerves, often caused or aggravated by repetitive motion, forceful exertion, awkward posture, or vibration. Prevention focuses on ergonomic controls.

The arrangement of work surfaces, tools, seating, and controls to match the operator's body size and task demands. Good design keeps work within reach, supports neutral postures, and reduces unnecessary movement.

Physical barriers or devices that prevent access to hazardous machine parts or that stop hazardous motion when access is detected. Guards must be secure, not create new hazards, and not be easily bypassed.

A device or system that prevents a machine from operating when a guard is open or a hazardous condition exists. It may be mechanical, electrical, or electronic and must be designed to fail safely.

A formal procedure for isolating and securing hazardous energy sources before maintenance or servicing. It uses locks, tags, and verification steps to prevent unexpected startup or release of stored energy.

Any energy source that can cause injury if released unexpectedly, including electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, and gravitational energy. Isolation must address all forms, including stored energy.

A dangerous electrical discharge that produces intense heat, light, and pressure waves. It can occur during switching, fault conditions, or work near energized equipment, so appropriate arc-rated PPE and boundaries are required.

A model showing the three elements needed for combustion: fuel, oxygen, and heat. Removing any one element prevents or extinguishes fire, which is the basis for isolation, smothering, and cooling strategies.

Measures that avoid ignition or reduce fuel and oxygen sources to stop fires from starting. Examples include housekeeping, control of flammable liquids, hot-work permits, and electrical maintenance.

A written authorization for welding, cutting, grinding, or other spark- or flame-producing work. It verifies fire precautions, fire watch, and area preparation before work begins and for a specified period afterward.

A classification of fires by fuel type: Class A (ordinary combustibles), B (flammable liquids), C (electrical), D (combustible metals), and K (cooking oils). Extinguishers must match the class of fire expected.

A documented plan that specifies procedures for evacuation, sheltering, accounting for people, and reporting during emergencies. It assigns roles, identifies routes and alarms, and is practiced through drills.

A planned exercise that tests evacuation routes, alarms, roles, and assembly procedures. Drills identify weaknesses in the emergency plan and build familiarity so response is faster and more reliable.

A designated safe location where people gather after evacuation so they can be accounted for. It must be away from the building, accessible, and known to all occupants.

A regulatory or advisory maximum concentration or intensity of a workplace agent that is considered acceptable for a defined exposure period. Examples include permissible exposure limits and threshold limit values.

The practice of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace exposures that may cause illness or injury. It uses sampling, modeling, and control strategies to protect worker health.

Measurement of a worker's exposure by placing a sampling device in the breathing zone during a representative work period. Results are compared with exposure limits to decide whether controls are needed.

The movement of air to dilute or remove airborne contaminants and to control temperature and humidity. Local exhaust captures contaminants at the source, while general ventilation dilutes them in the workspace.

A structured method for identifying the fundamental reasons an incident occurred, beyond immediate causes. It examines technical, human, and organizational factors to prevent recurrence.

A systematic process for gathering evidence, interviewing witnesses, and analyzing an incident to determine what happened and why. Its purpose is prevention, not blame.

An action taken to eliminate the cause of a detected nonconformity or incident so it does not recur. Effective corrective actions address root causes and are tracked to completion and verified.

A proactive measure of safety activity or conditions that predicts future performance, such as inspection completion, training hours, or near-miss reporting. It helps identify problems before losses occur.

A reactive measure of outcomes that have already occurred, such as injury rates, lost-time incidents, or property damage. It confirms results but does not predict future safety performance.

The use of indicators, audits, and reviews to evaluate how well safety risks are controlled. It should combine leading and lagging measures and drive decisions rather than simply record results.

A systematic, independent examination of safety management activities and results against defined criteria. Findings identify conformity and gaps, and feed corrective action and management review.

A management system for preventing catastrophic releases of highly hazardous chemicals. It covers process hazards analysis, operating procedures, training, mechanical integrity, management of change, and emergency planning.

A systematic study of a process to identify hazards and evaluate the adequacy of safeguards. Common methods include HAZOP, what-if analysis, and failure mode and effects analysis.

A formal process for reviewing and approving changes to equipment, procedures, materials, or organization before implementation. It assesses safety impacts, updates documentation, and communicates changes to affected workers.