Question

Explain the meaning of control measures. As an employer, discuss how the control measures [2]

can be carried out properly.

note to expert in chegg please write by computer

Answer 1

MEANING OF CONTROL MEASURES :  Control measures are actions or activities that are taken to prevent, eliminate or reduce the occurrence of a hazard that you have identified.

More than one control measure may be necessary to effectively manage a specific hazard. For example, use of a metal detection system, maintenance of the detection system, and training on using it might all be needed to avoid the hazard of metal pieces in food.

One control measure may manage more than one hazard. For instance, oil temperature and fry time can be an effective control for reducing both numbers of Salmonella and Campylobacter in fried food.

Control measures are not always carried out at the same Process Step where the hazard arises. For example a hazard at Process Step 1 may be ‘presence of metal in raw material from supplier’; this may have several controls including the use of only pre-approved suppliers, or supply to an agreed specification. These controls will appear at Process Step 1, however a control measure at Process Step 15 ‘effective working metal detector and rejection system’ is also a control for this hazard.

HOW CONTROL MEASURES CAN BE CARRIED OUT PROPERLY:

Employers need to assess the risks for their staff, and then preventive measures or control measures have to be derived from this assessment. The types of measures can be classified as: elimination of the hazards (e.g. designing new work processes) and, if that is not possible, minimising and separating the hazards from the workers by

i) technical measures (e.g. encasing, exhaust),

ii) organisational measures (e.g. only qualified employees are allowed to do specified work),

iii) personal measures (e.g. wearing PPE),

iv) behavioural measures (e.g. peer-observation).

Legislation requires following the hierarchy in order to always select the most effective type of measure.