Engineering controls are used to remove a hazard or place a barrier between the worker and the hazard. Well-designed engineering controls can be highly effective in protecting workers and will typically be independent of worker interactions to provide this high level of protection.
The basic types of engineering controls are:
Process controls which involve changing the way a job activity or process is done to reduce the risk.
Enclosure and/or isolation of emission source which keeps a selected hazard "physically" away from the worker and ventilation that strategically "adds" and "removes" air in the work environment.