Handbook for Process Safety in Laboratories and Pilot Plants

Part 5 – Managing Risk: Administrative Controls

The hierarchy of controls for process safety hazards was described in Section 4.2. From this hierarchy, the engineered controls described in Part 4 are preferred over administrative controls described next. Administrative controls are procedural mechanisms for guiding safe human performance, such as lock out/tagout procedures, bypass approval processes, car seals, and permit systems [1].

An integrated strategy with both prevention measures and mitigation measures is typically adopted to address most hazards. The concept of preventive and mitigative safeguards was introduced in Section 4.7. Recall the following definitions as Part 5 is read:

• Preventive safeguards lower the likelihood that a loss of control or containment incident will occur. They typically prevent the cause of an incident.
• Mitigative safeguards lower the severity of the consequences should the incident occur. They typically reduce the consequence of an incident.