The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has released a new report, The State of the National Initiative on Prevention through Design (PtD), describing what it calls “significant progress” in minimizing worker risks through research, practice, education and policy.

NIOSH launched its national PtD initiative in 2007 with the goal of “designing out” or eliminating occupational hazards to protect workers from various industries. PtD involves anticipating hazards and changing the design of facilities, work methods and operations, processes, equipment and tools to mitigate hazards that could cause illnesses or injuries.

According to NIOSH, the focus of PtD is on workers who execute the designs or have to work with the products of the design. The initiative has been developed to support designing out hazards, the most reliable and effective type of prevention. PtD can be practiced at all levels of the hierarchy of controls, but it is most effective as the means to eliminate hazards.

To read the report, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2014-123.

For more information on the Prevention through Design initiative, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ptd/.