Application of the Industrial Hygiene Hierarchy of Controls to Prioritize and Promote Safer Methods of Pest Control: A Case Study

Abstract

SYNOPSISIn 2005, the California Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Branch (OHB) investigated an incident of pesticide exposure and identified 27 vineyard workers who became ill due to drift of cyfluthrin, a pesticide being applied to a neighboring orange field to control katydids. Another pest, citrus thrips, was also present in the field. We investigated safer alternatives for katydid and thrips control to prevent illness due to pesticide exposure and used the industrial hygiene hierarchy of controls to prioritize the control methods.OHB evaluated factors that contributed to pesticide exposure and identified safer alternatives by conducting literature reviews on katydid and thrips control, drift prevention technology, and other relevant topics, and by interviewing integrated pest management advisors, conventional and organic growers, equipment manufacturers, county agricultural commissioners, pest control advisors, regulatory agencies, and others. We prioritized methods using the industrial hygiene hierarchy of controls. We identified safer pest control practices that incorporated hazard elimination, chemical substitution, engineering controls, and administrative controls, including employer policies and government regulations.

Occupational Risks and Exposures Among Wildlife Health Professionals

“…Efforts to control occupational risks for injury and illness in other workplace settings have used a ''hierarchy of controls'' paradigm, based on the concept that eliminating or controlling exposures at the source or devising engineering controls can be more effective than relying on individual behavior or use of personal protective equipment to reduce risk (Weinberg et al 2009). While the occupational setting for wildlife work inevitably involves some risks that are difficult to control, such as the behavior or disease status of captured wild animals, possible applications of the hierarchy of controls model to wildlife surveillance work could include modifications in equipment or practices to decrease risks of animal bites or scratches during animal capture and/or restraint (Slate et al 2009).…”

Failing to Fix What is Found: Risk Accommodation in the Oil and Gas Industry

“…As such, engineering controls are the most desirable control type as they are believed to eliminate or control hazards in the workplace. Engineering controls have been further categorized in the industrial hygiene literature as fully eliminating the hazard or controlling the hazard . Replacing a toxic substance with a nontoxic substance would be a better control compared to improving ventilation of the toxic substance, for instance .…”

“…Engineering controls have been further categorized in the industrial hygiene literature as fully eliminating the hazard or controlling the hazard. (41,42) Replacing a toxic substance with a nontoxic substance would be a better control compared to improving ventilation of the toxic substance, for instance. (42,43) As such, we further classified engineering controls into engineering elimination (a hazard engineering control that eliminates the risk without the need for further controls) and engineering control (an engineering control that reduces risk exposure from the hazard to the employee).…”

Occupational safety and health, green chemistry, and sustainability: a review of areas of convergence

“…As one moves downward through the hierarchy, the control approaches become less effective and less acceptable to workers, with the last resort being the utilization of personal protective equipment. The hierarchy of controls has been widely used and reiterated as an effective strategy for controlling workplace hazards [27-30]. …”