Risk Mitigation

After identifying hazards and ranking risk, a risk reduction plan is used to reduce or eliminate higher risk problems. It is important that hydrogen systems are planned, designed, constructed, and used with risks reduced to an acceptable level. For hazards identified with higher than acceptable risk, control measures are used to:

• Reduce or eliminate the likelihood of occurrence and/or
• Reduce or eliminate the severity of consequences, thereby reducing or eliminating the risk.

To reduce or eliminate the risk associated with a hazard, the following hierarchy of hazard control is suggested (in order of preference):

• Eliminate the hazard if you can by modifying the system
• Change to equipment or materials that serve the function adequately but are less hazardous
• Establish engineering controls which provide reliable, physical isolation from the hazard
• Establish administrative controls which are rules, procedures, or indicators such as signs that define safe actions
• Provide personal protective equipment