The Control of Hazardous Exposures in the Workplace

The goal of occupational medicine is to prevent injury and illness in the workplace. This is achieved by separating the susceptible person from a disease-producing substance, usually by reducing the concentration of such substances to safe levels through engineering (environmental) controls. If this approach is not adequate, personal protective equipment is usually the next step. Actual removal of the worker from the offending environment is resorted to only after all other methods have failed to guarantee safety.