What should I do about hazards?

Want to know more about reporting hazards and refusing unsafe work?

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As a worker, your role in controlling hazards lies in reporting them to your supervisor and if necessary, refusing to work until the hazard is investigated and resolved.

It's your supervisor's and employer's job to take action to control hazards by doing things like installing guards, changing procedures or providing safety training. You can make suggestions, but never take it upon yourself to make these types of changes. You may be injured or get in trouble for doing work that you weren't asked to do. Remember, it's part of your employer's job to protect you.

Hazards should be eliminated if at all possible, For example, if a hazardous chemical can be replaced with a non-hazardous product, then it should be. If a hazard can't be eliminated, then it has to be controlled to reduce the risk of injury or illness. There are three typical ways of controlling hazards.

Physical or engineering controls involve redesigning the source of the hazard. Some examples are:

adding metal guards to prevent hands from touching a saw blade
ventilating a work area to remove toxic vapours
creating systems that prevent machines from starting when a worker is servicing them.

Operational or administrative controls set rules for how people work with or around hazards. These are the do's and don'ts workers must follow. They are often called 'safe work practices or procedures'. Procedures could include job rotation so that no one is working at one task for a prolonged period of time.

Personal protective equipment and facilities are used to protect workers from hazards that can't be fully controlled any other way. For instance:

safety glasses to protect eyes from flying debris
eye wash stations near work areas where hazardous chemicals are used
use of respirators to ensure hazardous fumes are not inhaled
hearing protection for noisy environments.

This information is provided as a public service by the Government of Ontario. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the currency and accuracy of the information presented on the site, but readers should verify information before acting on it.

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