Job Safety Analysis
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What is a Job Safety Analysis?
A job safety analysis (JSA) is a procedure which helps integrate accepted safety and health principles and practices into a particular task or job operation. In a JSA, each basic step of the job is to identify potential hazards and to recommend the safest way to do the job. Other terms used to describe this procedure are job hazard analysis (JHA) and job hazard breakdown.
Some individuals prefer to expand the analysis into all aspects of the job, not just safety. This approach is known as total job analysis. Methodology is based on the idea that safety is an integral part of every job and not a separate entity. In this ...view middle of the document...
The analysis process may identify previously undetected hazards and increase the job knowledge of those participating. Safety and health awareness is raised, communication between workers and supervisors is improved, and acceptance of safe work procedures is promoted.
A JSA, or better still, a written work procedure based on it, can form the basis for regular contact between supervisors and workers. It can serve as a teaching aid for initial job training and as a briefing guide for infrequent jobs. It may be used as a standard for health and safety inspections or observations. In particular, a JSA will assist in completing comprehensive accident investigations.
What are the four basic steps?
Four basic stages in conducting a JSA are:
* selecting the job to be analyzed
* breaking the job down into a sequence of steps
* identifying potential hazards
* determining preventive measures to overcome these hazards
What is important to know when "selecting the job"?
Ideally, all jobs should be subjected to a JSA. In some cases there are practical constraints posed by the amount of time and effort required to do a JSA. Another consideration is that each JSA will require revision whenever equipment, raw materials, processes, or the environment change. For these reasons, it is usually necessary to identify which jobs are to be analyzed. Even if analysis of all jobs is planned, this step ensures that the most critical jobs are examined first.
Factors to be considered in setting a priority for analysis of jobs include:
* Accident frequency and severity: jobs where accidents occur frequently or where they occur infrequently but result in disabling injuries.
* Potential for severe injuries or illnesses: the consequences of an accident, hazardous condition, or exposure to harmful substance are potentially severe.
* Newly established jobs: due to lack of experience in these jobs, hazards may not be evident or anticipated.
* Modified jobs: new hazards may be associated with changes in job procedures.
* Infrequently performed jobs: workers may be at greater risk when undertaking non-routine jobs, and a JSA provides a means of reviewing hazards.
How do I break the job into "basic steps"?
After a job has been chosen for analysis, the next stage is to break the job into steps. A job step is defined as a segment of the operation necessary to advance the work. See examples below.
Care must be taken not to make the steps too general. Missing specific steps and their associated hazards will not help. On the other hand, if they are too detailed, there will be too many steps. A rule of thumb is that most jobs can be described in less than ten steps. If more steps are required, you might want to divide the job into two segments, each with its separate JSA, or combine steps where appropriate. As an example, the job of changing a flat tire will be used in this document.
An important point to remember is to keep the steps...
