Your average construction site is loaded with potential hazards. How you identify and address each one can vary significantly, so it’s important to approach safety strategically. That’s why you need a job hazard analysis.
What is a job hazard analysis (JHA)?
A job hazard analysis, or JHA, is the process of identifying and documenting any safety hazards on your jobsite before workers encounter them, then recommending prevention strategies. A job hazard analysis can also be referred to as a job safety analysis or JSA.
What are the benefits of a job hazard analysis?
A thorough JHA can save you thousands of dollars a year by mitigating the risk of injury on the jobsite and preventing downtime. It also serves the double purpose of increasing safety awareness, promoting best practices, and keeping jobsites OSHA-compliant, helping you avoid penalties of up to $14,502 per violation.
How to conduct a job hazard analysis
When you conduct a job hazard analysis, you gather information and come to conclusions like a detective. But it’s not enough just to identify hazards, and a good JHA also requires follow-through and a plan of action.
We broke down the process into a few easy steps.
Step 1: Identify the task you want to analyze
Start by selecting tasks that have a higher risk of injury or illness or ones that have been problem areas in the past.
For example, jobsites that involve heavy equipment would benefit from JHAs that focus on the hazards attached to those pieces of equipment, like skid steers or cranes.
Step 2: List the steps for the task
List out the individual steps for the task so you don’t miss anything and record them in the JHA form.
Be as detailed as possible. Even if it’s a repetitive task like loading up a forklift or bricklaying, it’s crucial that you identify all of the steps involved so you don’t leave out any potential hazards.
Step 3: Identify any hazards you may face
Call out the specific hazards of each step within the job using toolbox talks and past incidents or near misses as a reference. Indicate how severe or likely each hazard is.
For example, struck-by incidents can easily occur when equipment or materials are in motion, whether that’s a load being hauled by a crane or vehicle. Similarly, if you’ve experienced downtime on your projects in the past as a result of heat exhaustion, that’s also an area you’d want to focus on.
Step 4: Develop prevention strategies
Identify controls for the hazards you’ve listed to eliminate or reduce their risk. The hierarchy of controls is a helpful strategy for harm reduction that involves multiple levels of action, including elimination at the top, followed by substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment.
Here’s a helpful scenario: for tasks involving a jackhammer, you can eliminate the risk posed by dust by switching to methods like hydraulic bursting, substitute jackhammers with lower vibration equipment, implement engineering controls like water suppression systems that help keep dust out of the air, switch out personnel so one person isn’t exposed to the dust for too long (administrative controls), and require the jackhammer operator to wear PPE like a respirator and safety glasses.
Step 5: Review JHA and update as needed
By regularly updating your JHA, you can stay on top of issues and keep it effective and current. The best time to review your JHA would be when you make changes to the job like a change in environment or adding additional steps and equipment.
Was your JHA originally conducted in the middle of summer when heat exhaustion was a concern? If it gets cold in winter where you are, factor in hazards like frostbite or hypothermia. Are you entering a new phase of construction that requires a scissor lift? Time to update it for any tasks that would utilize it or require employees to work in close proximity with it.
Upgrade your JHAs with Raken
A good job hazard analysis makes all the difference when it comes to project success. They can save you thousands of dollars in fines and damages and keep employees safe and healthy. And, fewer incidents means less downtime, so you don’t have to keep pushing back your project deadline.
Raken makes JHAs even easier, with our custom checklists and forms. We even have a specific checklist for JHAs that streamlines the process so you can get started right away.
Safety on the jobsite requires being proactive and confronting hazards before your workers encounter them. Implement a quality job hazard analysis software in your workflow today.