Key takeaways
  • A JSA breaks a job into steps, identifies the hazards in each step, and defines controls for each hazard.
  • It must be done with the people who do the job. A JSA written at a desk describes an imaginary task.
  • The output has to be short. A twelve-page analysis for a two-hour job will not be read before the job starts.
The test of a good JSA
Would someone read it before starting?

Length is the enemy. A JSA that captures every conceivable hazard in exhaustive prose gets signed without being read, which produces the paperwork of safety and none of the effect.

Choosing which jobs to analyse

  • Jobs with a history of incidents or near misses.
  • Jobs where the consequence of error is severe, even if it has never happened.
  • New jobs, and jobs changed by new equipment or a new method.
  • Non-routine work, which is where a disproportionate share of serious incidents occur.
  • Jobs done rarely, where familiarity cannot be relied on.

Breaking the job into steps

Aim for a manageable number of steps, typically under fifteen. Each step should describe an action, starting with a verb, at a level that would let someone unfamiliar follow along. Too fine and the analysis becomes unreadable; too coarse and hazards hide inside a step called 'perform maintenance'.

Identifying hazards per step

  • What could strike, crush, cut, catch or entangle someone.
  • Stored energy: electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, gravitational, thermal, chemical.
  • Falls from height and falls on the level.
  • Exposure: fumes, dust, noise, temperature, radiation.
  • Ergonomic strain, particularly awkward posture and repetition.
  • What could go wrong if a step is done out of order, or interrupted partway.
  • Who else is in the area, including people not involved in the job.

Controls, in hierarchy order

For each hazard, work down from elimination. Recording the control alongside its hazard and its step is what makes the document usable in the field, because the person doing step 6 can see what step 6 requires without reading the whole analysis.

Keeping it alive

Review after any incident or near miss on that job, after any change to equipment or method, and periodically. The most valuable review trigger is a worker saying the JSA does not match what actually happens, and that only gets reported if raising it is easy and welcomed.

JSA and permits

A JSA analyses the task. A permit to work authorises it on a specific day under specific conditions and confirms the controls are actually in place. They are complementary, and using a JSA as a substitute for a permit on high-hazard work is a common and serious gap.