The Hierarchy of Controls assessment is an interactive picker on the incident page that records where your control measures sit on the hierarchy: Elimination, Substitution, Engineering, Administrative, Personal, or None. It tracks three indicators against each incident: Target, Planned, and Achieved.
Found on the incident detail page (under Investigations → incident)
Six levels arranged from least effective (None) to most effective (Elimination)
Three indicators per incident: Target, Planned, Achieved
Each level is set by the linked tasks and active controls; the assessment summarises the highest level reached
An auto-generated summary message explains the current state ("You've achieved Engineering controls, a strong level of protection through environmental and system changes")
The six hierarchy levels
The Hierarchy of Controls is the WHS-standard model for prioritising risk controls, from least effective to most effective:
None: no control in place
Personal: personal protective equipment or individual coping support
Administrative: policies, procedures, training, or scheduling changes
Engineering: changes to the work environment, system, or tool to reduce exposure
Substitution: replacement of the hazard with something less harmful
Elimination: removal of the hazard entirely (the most effective control)
Higher levels protect more workers more reliably. The hierarchy assessment makes it visible at a glance whether your controls are concentrated at the lower (less effective) end or the higher (more effective) end.
Target, Planned, and Achieved
Each incident's Hierarchy Assessment shows three markers across the six levels:
Target: the hierarchy level your organisation is aiming to reach for this incident
Planned: the highest level across all linked tasks and controls. This is where the assessment will land once everything is completed
Achieved: the highest level currently in effect from completed tasks and active controls
A gap between Planned and Achieved means tasks or controls are in flight but not yet complete. A gap between Target and Planned means more work is needed to meet the target.
Where the assessment sits
Open the incident from sidebar → Detection → Incidents → All Incidents → click any incident. Scroll down to the Hierarchy Assessment section.
The section shows:
The six hierarchy levels as a horizontal bar
Coloured circles indicating which levels have been reached
Target, Planned, and Achieved markers placed at the appropriate levels
A short summary message describing the current state
A Hierarchy Rationale field for documenting the reasoning behind the chosen target
Click Edit to update the target or rationale.
Why the rationale matters
Regulators inspecting an organisation after an incident specifically look for the decision-making record: did the organisation consider higher-priority controls before falling back to lower-priority ones?
The Hierarchy Rationale is where that reasoning is captured. Documenting why a higher level was not feasible (for example, "elimination not feasible because the hazard is inherent to the role") is what makes the record defensible.
Related articles
Investigating an incident (4.7)
Reporting an incident (admin view) (4.6)
Conducting a control effectiveness review (4.5)
Managing tasks (4.13)