A job hazard analysis breaks a job into steps, finds the hazards in each, and decides how to control them. It is the most practical form of risk assessment because it follows the work as it is really done, and it is done by the people who do it.
This guide covers which jobs to analyze first, a ten-step method, hazard prompts, how to write good steps and hazards, and how to use the result in training and standard work. A worked example analyzes loading a press, with scores before and after the controls.
Scores in the example are illustrative. Agree your own scales with the people who do the work.
Before You Start
What a Job Hazard Analysis Is
A job hazard analysis (JHA), sometimes called a job safety analysis (JSA), breaks a job into steps, finds the hazards in each step, and decides how to control them. It is a detailed form of risk assessment for one task, done by the people who know the job.
Focuses on the Task
A JHA looks at what people actually do, step by step, so it finds hazards that an area-level assessment misses.
Builds Skill and Ownership
People who take part learn to see hazards, and they own the controls they helped choose.
Feeds Everything Else
A good JHA becomes the basis of the work instruction, the training, and the risk register.
Cheap and Fast
A team can analyze a typical job in an hour or two, using a form and a pen.
Which Jobs to Analyze First
| Priority | Why |
|---|---|
| Jobs with a history of injuries or near misses | The system has already shown that the job can hurt people |
| Jobs where one mistake could cause a severe injury | High severity, even when frequency is low |
| New jobs and jobs that have changed | New equipment, materials, or methods bring new hazards |
| Non-routine and infrequent jobs | Cleaning, maintenance, clearing jams, and start-up and shutdown are where many injuries happen |
| Jobs that are complex or depend on many steps | More steps give more chances for error |
| Jobs done by new or temporary workers | Less experience and less informal knowledge |
List the jobs in your area, rank them on severity potential and injury history, and start with the top few. Do not try to analyze every job at once.
How to Do a JHA
- Choose the job from your priority list and agree its limits: where it starts and where it ends.
- Assemble the team. The person who does the job, a supervisor, someone with safety knowledge, and ideally someone who has not done the job and will ask naive questions.
- Watch the job being done, or do it as it is really done. Do not analyze it from memory at a desk.
- Break the job into steps, in order, describing what is done and not how. Five to twelve steps is typical. Too few hides hazards, and too many buries them.
- Find the hazards in each step. Ask what could go wrong, how a person could be hurt, and what could lead to it. Use hazard prompts to avoid missing categories.
- Score the risk with the controls that exist today (severity × likelihood).
- Decide the controls, working down the hierarchy: eliminate, substitute, engineer, then administrative and PPE. Score the residual risk.
- Assign owners and dates, and put the controls in place.
- Review the result with the people who do the job, brief them on it, and file it with the work instruction.
- Review again when the job, equipment, or materials change, and after any incident or near miss.
Hazard Prompts for Each Step
| Category | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Contact and caught-in | Can a hand, finger, hair, or clothing be caught, pinched, drawn in, or crushed? |
| Struck by or against | Can anything hit the person, or can the person hit something? |
| Falls | Is there a fall from height, a slip, or a trip? Are surfaces wet, uneven, or cluttered? |
| Overexertion | Is anything heavy, awkward, repetitive, or done in a bad posture? |
| Energy | Can stored or unexpected energy be released: electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, gravity, thermal? |
| Substances | Are fumes, dust, vapors, or liquids present? Is ventilation adequate? |
| Noise, heat, and cold | Are noise, vibration, extreme temperature, or radiation present? |
| Sharp edges and hot surfaces | Can anyone be cut, punctured, burned, or scalded? |
| Human factors | Could fatigue, hurry, distraction, poor lighting, or unclear instructions lead to error? |
| Non-routine events | What happens during a jam, a breakdown, a spill, or an emergency? |
Writing Good Steps and Good Hazards
| Do | Do not | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Describe what is done, in order | Describe how the work should be done, or list rules | “Load the part into the fixture” and not “Be careful when loading” |
| State the hazard and the harm | Write a vague warning | “Hand caught in the die as the press closes: crushing injury” and not “Press hazard” |
| Write a control that someone can check | Write “be careful” or “pay attention” | “Light curtain stops the press when the beam is broken” |
| Include the people who do the job | Write it for them without them | The operator describes the real steps |
Worked Example: Loading a Press
At Riverside Plant, an illustrative 140-employee metal fabrication and assembly plant, a team of an operator, the supervisor, and the safety coordinator analyzed loading a 25 kg part into a press. They watched the job on two shifts and found six steps. All figures are illustrative.
| # | Job step | Hazard | Initial risk | Controls | Level | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lift the part (25 kg) from the pallet to the cart | Awkward lift of a heavy part | 12 (High) | Vacuum lift assist at the pallet station | Engineering | 6 (Medium) |
| 2 | Push the cart to the press | Cart strikes a person or foot | 9 (Medium) | Marked pedestrian aisle, speed limit, and a cart with a guarded wheel | Engineering | 6 (Medium) |
| 3 | Load the part into the press fixture | Hand caught in the die area as the press closes | 15 (High) | Light curtain and two-hand control on the press | Engineering | 5 (Medium) |
| 4 | Start the press cycle | Unexpected cycle or stored energy during adjustment | 10 (High) | Lockout procedure for adjustment and die changes, with a verified zero-energy check | Administrative | 5 (Medium) |
| 5 | Remove the finished part | Sharp burrs on the edge | 8 (Medium) | Deburr at the source in the previous operation; cut-resistant gloves as backup | Elimination | 4 (Low) |
| 6 | Clear a jam in the die | Reaching into the die with hands | 15 (High) | Hand tools and lockout before any reach into the die; jam-clearing procedure | Administrative | 5 (Medium) |
What the analysis found. Four of the six steps were rated High before the controls, and the total of the six scores was 69. After the controls the highest score is 6 and the total is 31, a reduction of 55%. Four of the six controls are engineering or elimination controls.
Fill in your own job on the Job Hazard Analysis Worksheet or with the JHA and Risk Assessment Builder, which flags steps that stay High or rely on weak controls.
Using the JHA
- Training. Use it to teach new people the hazards and the controls for the job, and check understanding.
- Standard work. Put the safety steps into the work instruction. See Standard Work.
- The risk register. Carry the significant hazards into the site register.
- Incident investigation. When something goes wrong, compare what happened with the JHA to see what was missed.
- Change management. Update the JHA whenever the job, equipment, or materials change.
Common Mistakes
Doing It at a Desk
The JHA describes the procedure and not the real job.
Too Broad or Too Detailed
Two steps that hide hazards, or fifty that nobody reads.
Vague Controls
“Be careful” and “pay attention” are not controls.
Relying on PPE
Gloves and glasses chosen when a guard or a changed process is possible.
Filing and Forgetting
A JHA that is never briefed, used, or updated.
Excluding the Workers
The people who do the job are not in the room.
Self-Assessment Questions
- Have we ranked our jobs and analyzed the highest-risk ones first?
- Were the people who do the job part of the analysis, and did we watch the job being done?
- Do our controls come from the top of the hierarchy where possible?
- Are JHAs used in training and work instructions, and updated when jobs change?
- Do we check that the controls we chose are in place?
Job Hazard Analysis: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a JHA and a JSA?
They are two names for the same method. Job hazard analysis (JHA) and job safety analysis (JSA) both break a job into steps, identify the hazards, and decide on controls. Some organizations also use the term task risk assessment.
How many steps should a JHA have?
Typically five to twelve. Too few steps hide hazards, and too many make the analysis unreadable. If a job has many more steps, consider splitting it into two jobs. Each step should describe what is done, in order, and not how it should be done.
Who should take part in a JHA?
The person who does the job, their supervisor, and someone with safety knowledge, and ideally someone who has not done the job, who will ask naive questions. The analysis should be based on watching the job being done, not on memory at a desk.
How often should a JHA be reviewed?
Review it when the job, equipment, materials, or people change; after any incident or near miss involving the job; and on a regular schedule, often once a year for high-risk jobs. Keep it with the work instruction so that changes to one prompt changes to the other.
Is PPE a good control in a JHA?
It is a control of last resort. PPE depends on correct selection, fit, and use every time, and it does not remove the hazard. Look first for elimination, substitution, and engineering controls, and use PPE as a back-up or where nothing better is practical.
Sources and Further Reading
- US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Job Hazard Analysis (OSHA 3071).
- Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, Job Safety Analysis guidance.
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Hierarchy of Controls.
- ANSI/ASSP Z10.0, Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
- ISO 45001:2018, clause 6.1.2 on hazard identification and assessment of risks (check current edition).