Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

14.9.2 Hierarchy of control measures
The COSHH Regulations require the prevention or 
adequate control of exposure by measures other than 
personal protective equipment, so far as is reasonably 
practicable, taking into account the degree of exposure 
and current knowledge of the health risks and associ-
ated technical remedies. The hierarchy of control meas-
ures are as follows:
➤
elimination
➤
substitution
➤
provision of engineering controls provision of super-
visory (people) controls
➤
provision of personal protective equipment.
Examples where engineering controls are not reasonably 
practicable include emergency and maintenance work, 
short-term and infrequent exposure and where such 
controls are not technically feasible.
Measures for preventing or controlling exposure to 
hazardous substances include one or a combination of 
the following:
➤
elimination
➤
substitution
➤
total or partial enclosure of the process
➤
local exhaust ventilation
➤
dilute or general ventilation
➤
reduction of the number of employees exposed to a 
strict minimum
➤
reduced time exposure
➤
housekeeping
➤
training
➤
personal protective equipment
➤
welfare (including fi rst aid)
➤
medical 
records
➤
health 
surveillance.
14.9.3 Preventative control measures
Prevention is the safest and most effective of the control 
measures and is achieved either by changing the pro-
cess completely or by substituting for a less hazardous 
substance (the change from oil-based to water-based 
paints is an example of this). It may be possible to use 
a substance in a safer form, such as a brush paint rather 
than a spray.
The EU has introduced a chemical safety regime 
REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of 
Chemicals) Regulations which restricts the use of high 
risk substances or substances of very high concern 
and requires that safer substitute must be used. 
Manufacturers and importers of chemicals are respon-
sible for understanding and managing the risks associ-
ated with their products.

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