As part of occupational safety and health management systems and workplace safety programs, hazard identification processes are fundamental. Too often hazards are missed, or not assessed and mitigated properly, with near misses or incidents being the consequences. Identifying conditions in the workplace and fixing them can eliminate risks that employees may encounter and reduce the hazards that have the potential for injury.  However, common barriers exist (biases, subjectivity, risk habituation, etc.) that makes hazard identification less effective.

This paper examines these barriers and shares how a workforce trained in Visual Literacy can dramatically improve risk mitigation, reduce serious injuries and fatalities, and improve human performance and overall organizational effectiveness.