---
title: "Mitigation hierarchy"
description: "The order in which risk treatments are tried: eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrative, then accept and monitor."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/mitigation-hierarchy
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-25
---

# Mitigation hierarchy

The order in which risk treatments are tried: eliminate, substitute, engineer, administrative, then accept and monitor. Borrowed from the occupational-safety hierarchy of controls [1] and mirrored in AI Act Article 9(5) [2]; higher rungs first, with the reason recorded when they are infeasible.

- Developed in: [ch. 13, Treating risk: the mitigation hierarchy](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/risk-management#treating-risk-the-mitigation-hierarchy)
- Chapters: [ch. 13, Risk Management](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/risk-management)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-mitigation-hierarchy

## Sources

[1] Hierarchy of Controls (elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, PPE). CDC / NIOSH. 2024-04-10. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hierarchy-of-controls/about/index.html (verified: primary)
[2] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), consolidated text as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI, in force 27 Jul 2026; definitions in Art. 3, incl. 3(1), 3(3) to 3(14), 3(14b), 3(20), 3(22), 3(23), 3(29) to 3(32), 3(49), 3(55) to 3(57), 3(60), 3(61), 3(63), 3(68); Arts. 4, 5, 6 (incl. 6(3) third subparagraph, profiling), 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 22 to 27 (incl. 26(11)), 40, 41, 43, 47, 48, 50, 53 (incl. 53(1)(c)), 55, 57, 60, 72, 73, 86; Annexes I, III, IV). Publications Office of the EU (EUR-Lex). 2026-07-27. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng (verified: primary)