Workplace Safety Hazards: Types, Examples and Controls

What is a workplace hazard?

A workplace hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm: an injury, illness, or damage to health over time. Hazards exist in every workplace, from an office chair that causes back pain to an unguarded machine that causes amputation. The goal of hazard management is not to eliminate all risk, which is rarely possible, but to identify hazards, assess the likelihood and severity of harm, and put controls in place that reduce the risk to an acceptable level.

Under OSHA's general duty clause in the US, and the Health and Safety at Work Act in the UK, employers have a legal duty to identify and control workplace hazards. Communicating those hazards to workers is a core part of that duty, not an optional extra.

The six categories of workplace hazard

Hazards are commonly grouped into six categories. Understanding which type you are dealing with determines the appropriate controls and the way to communicate the risk effectively.

Physical hazards

Physical hazards are the most common type and include anything in the work environment that can cause physical harm without necessarily being touched.

• Slips, trips and falls: The leading cause of workplace injury across almost every sector. Wet floors, trailing cables, uneven surfaces and poor lighting all contribute. Controls include housekeeping standards, non-slip flooring, adequate lighting and clear walkways.
• Working at height: Any work above ground level carries fall risk. Controls include edge protection, fall-arrest systems, inspected ladders and exclusion zones beneath elevated work.
• Noise: Prolonged exposure to high noise levels causes permanent hearing loss. Controls include engineering noise out at source, acoustic barriers, job rotation and hearing protection as a last resort.
• Vibration: Hand-arm vibration from power tools and whole-body vibration from plant and vehicles cause long-term musculoskeletal damage. Controls include tool selection, exposure limits and health surveillance.
• Temperature extremes: Heat stress and cold exposure both impair judgement and physical function. Controls include environmental controls, appropriate workwear, hydration, rest breaks and buddy systems.
• Manual handling: Lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling cause a high proportion of musculoskeletal injuries. Controls include mechanical aids, team lifts, task redesign and training.

Chemical hazards

Chemical hazards arise from substances that can harm the body through inhalation, skin contact, ingestion or injection.

• Hazardous substances: Cleaning agents, solvents, fuels, dusts and process chemicals all carry varying degrees of risk. COSHH assessments in the UK and Hazard Communication standards in the US require employers to identify these, assess the risk and put controls in place.
• Fumes and vapours: Welding fumes, paint vapours and chemical off-gassing can cause respiratory damage even at low concentrations. Controls include local exhaust ventilation, respiratory protection and atmospheric monitoring.
• Skin contact hazards: Dermatitis from repeated contact with irritants is one of the most common occupational diseases. Controls include gloves, barrier creams, skin checks and reduced contact time.
• Asbestos: Still present in many buildings constructed before 2000, asbestos fibres cause mesothelioma and lung cancer. The duty to manage asbestos requires identification, condition monitoring and controlled work where disturbance is unavoidable.

Biological hazards

Biological hazards arise from contact with living organisms or their by-products and are particularly relevant in healthcare, agriculture, waste management and food production.

• Blood-borne pathogens: HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C can all be transmitted via sharps injuries or contact with infected blood. Controls include safe sharps disposal, PPE and post-exposure protocols.
• Legionella: The bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease can colonise water systems operating in certain temperature ranges. Controls include system design, temperature monitoring, regular cleaning and records.
• Zoonotic diseases: Infections transmissible from animals to humans are a risk for veterinary, agricultural and some laboratory workers. Controls include PPE, hygiene protocols and vaccination where available.

Ergonomic hazards

Ergonomic hazards arise when the physical demands of a task exceed the body's capacity, causing cumulative injury over time.

• Repetitive strain: Repeating the same motion thousands of times a day, whether on an assembly line or at a keyboard, causes tendon and nerve damage. Controls include task rotation, workstation design and rest breaks.
• Poor workstation set-up: A screen too high or low, a chair at the wrong height or a keyboard at the wrong angle all contribute to neck, shoulder and back pain. Controls are simple and low-cost but require people to know what good looks like.
• Awkward postures: Sustained bending, twisting or overhead reaching causes injury even without repetition or load. Task redesign and tool selection are the primary controls.

Psychosocial hazards

Psychosocial hazards affect mental health and wellbeing and are increasingly recognised as occupational health risks with real physical consequences.

• Work-related stress: Excessive workload, lack of control, poor relationships and job insecurity all contribute to stress-related illness. Controls include workload management, clear roles, regular one-to-ones and access to support.
• Workplace violence and aggression: Workers in customer-facing, healthcare and emergency roles face elevated risk of verbal and physical aggression. Controls include lone-working protocols, de-escalation training and incident reporting.
• Fatigue: Shift work, long hours and insufficient recovery time impair judgement and reaction time. Controls include shift scheduling, break requirements and a culture where flagging tiredness is acceptable.

Environmental hazards

Environmental hazards relate to the conditions of the work environment itself rather than a specific substance or task.

• Poor lighting: Inadequate lighting causes eye strain, increases error rates and raises the risk of trips and falls. Controls include lux-level assessments, task lighting and maintenance of existing fittings.
• Poor air quality: Insufficient ventilation, particularly in older or retrofitted buildings, causes headaches, fatigue and long-term respiratory problems. Controls include ventilation assessments, CO2 monitoring and maintenance.
• Confined spaces: Tanks, pits, silos and ducts can have oxygen-deficient or toxic atmospheres. Confined space entry requires a permit, atmospheric testing and rescue arrangements before anyone enters.

Communicating hazards to your workforce

Identifying and controlling hazards is only effective if the people exposed to them know about the risks and the controls in place. Hazard communication is a legal obligation in both the US and UK, but it is also the practical mechanism through which all the other controls work. A worker who does not know about a hazard cannot take the precautions designed to protect them.

Hazard communication works best when it is timely, specific and impossible to miss. New hazards warrant an immediate desktop alert that cannot be scrolled past. Ongoing risks are reinforced through screensavers, wallpaper and a desktop ticker. And for anything that must be evidenced at audit, acknowledgement tracking gives a timestamped record of who has seen each message. See how this comes together for safety-critical industries on our health and safety solution page, and explore the full set of workplace safety topics for your communications programme.