Job Hazard Analysis

Most injuries happen during ordinary tasks that nobody stopped to think through. A job hazard analysis (JHA) is a simple way of doing that thinking before the work starts. You break the job into steps, ask what could go wrong at each one, and decide how to prevent it. Some employers call it a job safety analysis (JSA) or a pre-task plan. It does not take an engineer. The people who know a job best are the ones doing it, so a good JHA is written with them.

What You Will Be Able to Do

• Decide which jobs need a JHA first.
• Break a task into a useful number of steps.
• Find the hazards in each step by asking the right questions.
• Choose controls using the hierarchy of controls.
• Rank risk with a simple scoring grid.
• Run a short toolbox talk built on the JHA.
• Say when a JHA has to be reviewed.

What a JHA Is

A JHA focuses on the relationship between the worker, the task, the tools and the work setting. It has a simple result: a table listing each step of the job, the hazards in that step, and the controls that deal with them.

Federal law does not require a JHA for every job. Some rules do require something similar. For example, 29 CFR 1910.132(d) requires employers to assess the workplace for hazards when choosing PPE, and to certify that in writing. OSHA recommends JHAs in its publication OSHA 3071, and many employers and project owners require them.

Which Jobs to Analyze First

Your workplace may have hundreds of tasks. Start with the ones most likely to hurt someone.

• Jobs with the highest injury or illness rates.
• Jobs with near misses, even if nobody was hurt.
• Jobs where a single mistake could cause a death or serious injury.
• New jobs, or jobs where the process, tools or location have changed.
• Complex jobs that need written instructions.
• Jobs done so rarely that nobody remembers the details.

Five Steps to a JHA

Step 1: Pick the Job and the People

Name the job clearly, such as "Replace the drive belt on a rooftop air handler." Bring in at least one person who does the work. Review past injuries, near misses and any written procedures.

Step 2: Break the Job Into Steps

List what is done, in order, starting each step with an action word. Watch the job being done if you can.

Aim for about 5 to 10 steps for most tasks. If you have 30, you are writing a training manual. If you have 2, you are hiding hazards. "Change the belt" is too broad. "Pick up the wrench" is too narrow.

Step 3: Find the Hazards in Each Step

For each step, ask:

• What can go wrong?
• What would happen if it did?
• How could it happen?
• What else could contribute, such as weather, poor lighting or being rushed?
• How likely is it?

Use the hazard types as a checklist, too: safety and mechanical hazards, physical hazards, chemical, biological, ergonomic and psychosocial. Also ask what is nearby. Other crews, traffic and overhead lines can all affect your job.

Step 4: Decide on the Controls

Work down the hierarchy of controls, and do not start at the bottom.

1. Can you eliminate the hazard?
2. Can you substitute something safer?
3. Can you add an engineering control, such as a guard or ventilation?
4. Can you change the way the work is done, with procedures, training or timing?
5. What PPE is needed for the risk that remains?

A control must be specific. "Be careful" is not a control. "Lock out the disconnect at panel 3 and try the start button" is.

Step 5: Share It, Use It, Update It

A JHA in a binder does not protect anyone. Review it with the crew before the work, put it where people can see it, and keep it up to date.

Worked Example

Job: Replace the drive belt on a rooftop air handler.

Notice how specific the controls are, and that several are engineering or procedure controls. PPE is only part of the answer.

Scoring Risk

Many employers rank hazards so that the worst ones get attention first. This isn't an OSHA requirement, but it is useful. One common way multiplies two scores:

Worked example: A fall from the roof edge could be fatal, so severity is 3. Without controls the likelihood is 2. Risk = 3 x 2 = 6.

With a marked path and a work rule that keeps people 15 feet from the edge, likelihood drops to 1, so the risk drops to 3. Your employer may use a different grid. Treat the number as a way to compare hazards, rather than a precise fact. A low likelihood of a fatal event still needs a control.

Toolbox Talks

A toolbox talk is a short safety meeting about the hazards of the work in front of you that day. You may also hear it called a tailgate meeting or a safety briefing. It usually lasts 5 to 15 minutes, at the start of a shift or before a new task.

A good talk has these parts:

1. Today's work. What the crew is doing, and where.
2. The hazards. Pull them from the JHA. Mention what has changed since yesterday.
3. The controls. Who is doing what.
4. Emergency details. Muster point, first aid, how to call for help.
5. Questions. Ask people what worries them, and then listen.
6. Sign-in. Record who attended, if your employer requires it.

Keep it about the work ahead. A talk read from a generic sheet about a hazard nobody faces today is easy to tune out. Ask a crew member to explain a step, because that shows you whether it was understood.

When to Review a JHA

Review the JHA and update it:

• After an injury or near miss.
• When tools, materials, location or methods change.
• When a new hazard turns up, such as new work next to you.
• When workers report that it does not match the real job.
• On a regular schedule your employer sets.
• When a new worker joins the task.

If conditions change while you work, stop and revisit it. Rain on a roof, a new crew overhead, or a missing tool can make a plan out of date in minutes. This is a good time to use stop-work authority, if you have it.

Common Mistakes

Check Your Understanding

1. A coworker lists "Install pump" as one step in a JHA. What would you suggest?

Break it into smaller steps, such as moving the pump, isolating the line, setting it in place, connecting it and testing it. Each one has different hazards.

2. The only control listed for a dusty cutting job is "wear a dust mask." How could you improve it?

Go up the hierarchy. Ask if wet cutting or a vacuum shroud can be used, or if the cut can be made elsewhere, and list a proper respirator only for what remains.

3. Your crew has a good JHA for yesterday's job, but today a crane is working next to you. What do you do?

Stop, review the JHA and add the new hazards before starting. The conditions changed.

4. A hazard scores severity 3 and likelihood 1. Another scores severity 1 and likelihood 3. Are they equally important?

They both total 3, but the first could kill someone. Use the score as a guide, and control the severe hazard.

5. In a toolbox talk, your lead reads a page on winter driving during a summer indoor job. What is the problem?

The talk has nothing to do with the day's work. It should cover the hazards the crew faces today.

Key Takeaways

• A JHA breaks a job into steps, finds the hazards in each step, and sets controls.
• Start with jobs that have injuries, near misses, serious risks or recent changes.
• Write it with the people who do the work.
• Use the hierarchy of controls, and make each control specific.
• A toolbox talk is a short meeting about today's hazards.
• Review a JHA after incidents, changes and new hazards.