The Hierarchy of Controls

The hierachy of controls is the general idea that you eliminate the control by modifying the design before applying administrative controls such as training or p p e. But what i found as people would use things completely different that were just not even part of hierarchy. So they would talk about awarding the job to a competent contractor as a claim for having minimized a specific hazard. There was no discussion on the controls that might be applied, either administratively or otherwise.