Engineering Controls: Isolate People from the Hazard
- Designed to control the hazard at the source before it comes in contact with the worker through isolation or enclosure of the process.
- Often an integral part of the device or equipment (built-in feature).
Examples include:
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- General dilution ventilation and local exhaust ventilation
- Safety engineered devices: needleless device systems, scalpels, lancets
- Equipment guards/shields/lids
- Rubber dam/sheath placed around tooth/teeth to minimize droplet and aerosols in dentistry; high volume evacuations
- Sharps containers
- Closed-system drug transfer devices (CSTDs)
- Replacing manual cleaning of instruments with automated cleaning washers
- Scavenging systems, fume hoods, biological safety cabinets (BSC) for hazardous drug preparation and transfer, air purification
- Anesthetic gas scavenger systems
- Patient lifts