New Perspectives on the Hierarchy of Controls and the Bowtie Model

Although most safety professionals are familiar with the Hierarchy of Controls, many still think that the last line of defense is personal protective equipment. Unfortunately, this common perspective is inaccurate. PPE is not the last line of defense. In fact, a doctor tested you for the last line of defense shortly after you were born. You’ve been using it all your life – except for those times when you or your employees were seriously injured. How does this impact the incident trajectory in the bowtie model? And more importantly, how can you and your employees make sure they get the benefits of the last line of defense to prevent (the majority of) serious injuries and fatalities?