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800 Introduction to Construction Safety Management
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Elimination

The best control measure to control a hazard is to eliminate it. If you don't have the hazard, you won't get injured. While elimination is the most effective at reducing hazards, it also tends to be the most difficult to implement in an existing process.

If the construction project is still at the design or development stage, elimination and substitution of hazards may be inexpensive and simple to implement. For an existing process, major changes in equipment and procedures may be required to eliminate or substitute for a hazard.

Substitution

The next best control measure is to substitute something else in its place that would be non-hazardous or less hazardous to workers: for example, substituting a toxic chemical with a non-toxic (or less toxic) one.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

5-2. Which hazard control strategy is the most effective at reducing hazards, yet also tends to be the most difficult to implement in an existing process?