JHA’s

Do you use Job Hazard Analyses (JHA) at your workplace? According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ website, “Every worker should be as safe as he or she can be. Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) identifies and analyzes hazards associated with the performance of various individual job tasks with the goal to make each worker as safe as possible.” OSHA defines a JHA as “a technique that focuses on job tasks as a way to identify hazards before they occur. It focuses on the relationship between the worker, the task, the tools, and the work environment.”

Just like the name implies, a JHA is a planned technique to analyze or do an in-depth review of a job or series of tasks to complete a job, with the planned outcome of the job being done safely and potential hazards being prevented. In the General Duty Clause (29 USC 654), OSHA puts the responsibility of preventing hazards onto the shoulders of employers. How do you, as an employer, do that? How do you prevent hazards and make a workplace safe?

One tool in your toolbox is to use a JHA. There are times when an employer, or a hiring contractor, will require to see a JHA for an upcoming project. What the hiring contractor is asking for is a methodical, step-by-step breakdown of tasks that determines what the hazards are and lists what controls will be implemented to prevent those hazards from causing harm to your employers. It is a list of what you will do to make your employees safe.

Do JHAs need to be completed for every job that you might be asked to do? You may not need to do a JHA for every task. For example, you may not need to do a JHA for something that your employees have done thousands of times, or a task where the potential hazards already have controls in place. But some jobs or tasks may be more complicated. We are talking about jobs that might be described by the following list:

• Jobs identified with a high frequency of injury or illness.
• Jobs with the potential to cause severe or disabling injuries or illness.
• Jobs where human error could lead to a severe incident.
• New jobs that employees have not performed.
• Jobs that have recently undergone changes in processes and procedures.
• Complex jobs that require written instructions.

Before you start on a JHA, what things should you consider? In our experience, some of the more effective JHAs have involved these things:

• Involve the employees who have done or will be doing the work. This will help you to minimize potential oversights, ensure a quality analysis, and allow your employees to “buy in” to the solutions so they can share ownership in their safety and health program.
• Review any recent incidents. These are indicators that any potential existing hazard controls may not be adequate and deserve more scrutiny.
• Conduct a preliminary job review, reviewing any known hazards and considering the methods of controls you can use to eliminate or control those hazards. Discuss with the employees the hazards they know exist in their current work and surroundings.
• Consider potential hazards and what the consequences of those hazards might be. Consider potentially contributing factors. Contributing factors are those things that may be partially responsible for or may add to the potential for harm to the employee.

Next week, we will focus on some of the controls that can be used in a JHA.

Weekly Safety Challenge:

What are some of the hazards in your job? Are there any contributing factors that might be adding to the potential for harm in your job?