The hierarchy of risk control is a system used in priority order that assists in minimising or eliminating exposure for infection control work practices. The risk controls in the hierarchy are, in order of decreasing effectiveness are Elimination, Substitution, Isolation, Engineering, Administration and Personal Protective Equipment (Safe Work, 2015). So as an Infection Control Representative or as member of the Nursing staff assessing a new patient you would look at Elimination first. For example a patient that has been admitted to the ward and has tested positive for Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE). As VRE cannot be eliminated we then move down the scale to Substitution. Substitution is looking at a risk and trying to substitute the
