Hazard Prevention

Understanding Hazard Prevention

Hazard prevention is an important part of the Department’s health and safety program and helps to ensure the health and safety of every employee in every work place.

The Hazard Prevention Program (HPP) focuses on the prevention of accidents, illnesses, injuries and other losses related to workplace hazards. Through a process of hazard identification, hazard assessment, action plans, employee education and the implementation of preventive measures; work place hazards are eliminated or controlled before they cause an accident, illness or injury.

Identifying and Managing Hazards

Common Hazards

To assist managers with identifying hazards and their related preventive measures and communicating the information to their employees, management action plans (MAPs) have been developed for six common hazard profile groups (HPGs) in the department.

Important: The above HPGs are not mutually exclusive and an employee may be exposed to the hazards in multiple groups. Once informed the hazards associated with their job and workplace and the relevant MAPs, employees must complete the HPP course and all applicable HPG courses for their position.

Other Hazards

On occasion, other hazards outside those contained in the common hazard profile groups (HPG) above are identified as part of an employee’s job duties or in the employee’s workplace. In these cases, management must conduct hazard assessments and develop preventive measures to manage the risks and potential impacts of those hazards on employees. Annex E: Hazard Identification Form and Assessment Worksheet and Annex D: Hazard Assessment Management Action Plan are the tools used to manage any other hazards that may be present within an employee’s job duties or local workplace.