ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Hazardous energy is the level of energy that is likely to cause bodily harm. Contact with hazardous lev-
els of energy occurs during accident situations. Contact with nonhazardous levels of energy can occur
as a routine part of work experience. To take this even further, nonhazardous levels of some types of
energy, for example ionizing radiation, are part of the normal environment in which we live. In fact,
there are some parts of the Earth where the normal background exceeds levels that would prompt
investigations in workplace situations.
