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The Most Easy & Effective Ways To Use A JSA

May 28th 2021

The Most Easy & Effective Ways To Use A JSA

A Job Safety Analysis, or JSA for short, is a popular strategy for addressing job safety concerns and ways to decrease the risks they may pose.

This is a moderately formal assessment - not quite as involved or strict as something like a WRAC Hazard Analysis, but thorough enough to be recognized by OSHA and similar safety regulators.

While this may sound a bit daunting, with some common sense thinking and a little work, you can create a great JSA that will help make your workplace safer. It also will help you better meet OSHA standards.

Above is a modified version of the template that can be found on page 46 of OSHA’s Job Hazard Analysis Guide. We shifted information around in a way that is a little clearer, a little more user friendly, and could potentially save some paper.

Let’s break down what information goes into each column


Tasks:

The “Tasks” section should include job activities done on a site. Every task should include corresponding information in the other four columns.

If there is a task with many different steps that each pose their own risks, you can break the task down to separate steps.

Hazards:

The “Hazards” section should include different significant dangers that each task poses.

Preventative Measures:

Each danger address in the “Hazards” section should have a corresponding action that will decrease its risk in the “Preventative Measures” column.

Person Responsible:

The “Person Responsible” column should include the name of the person who is being assigned to perform the Preventative Measures.

Supervisor Signature:

After a Preventative Measure is completed, it should be checked by a supervisor who observed it being completed. The supervisor should only put their signature in this column once they have observed that precautions were taken.

What Are The Most Important Things To Address In A JSA?

Unfortunately, the reality is that every job site has infinite hazards. It is important to pick which hazards will be addressed in a JSA carefully and strategically.

Hazards To Prioritize In A JSA:

  • Unusual Jobs
  • Jobs With High Rates Of Accidents
  • Jobs With The Highest Risk Of Serious Injuries
  • New Tasks & Tasks That Have Had Procedural Changes
  • Jobs With Stringent OSHA & ASME Regulations In Place

Who Should Be Involved In Creating A JSA?

Whenever possible, everyone who is going to be working on a job site should have some say in creating the JSA. This can increase buy-in from employees significantly.

However, in some cases this may be impossible or extremely inefficient. In these cases, you will want to put together a team of people to create a Job Safety Analysis.

A JSA Team Should Always Include:

  • Supervisors
  • Workers With Some Seniority
  • Attentive Workers Who Represent Employees With Less Seniority
  • People Who Work On A Job Site Regularly- I.E. 5-7 Days A Week
  • A Responsible Team Leader Who Will Moderate Between Representatives

Steps To Creating & Using A JSA

Putting together a good JSA will take some research and thought. Once the information is gathered regarding which risks should be addressed, preventative measures should be outlined for each hazard.

This information will be included in a form. After reviewing all of these protocols with the employees on the job site, the form should be completed daily as every preventative measure is completed.

5 Steps To Making And Putting A JSA Into Practice:

  1. Collect Information (Interviewing Employees, Reviewing Accident Records)
  2. Prioritize Risks From Most Pressing To Least Pressing
  3. Determine Preventative Measures For Each Hazard
  4. Review Preventative Measures With Employees
  5. Assess Compliance With JSA Forms, Including Supervisor Signatures

Practice Makes Perfect And Revision Makes Perfecter

Once the forms are created and supervisors ensure all safety measures are being followed, it will likely be necessary to revise the JSA to improve safety even further. The JSA should be run daily and as it gets put into practice, revisions will help improve the effectiveness of the job site’s JSA.

Reasons To Update A JSA:

  • Changes In Job Routines
  • Major Equipment Upgrades
  • A Need To Make JSA More Clear
  • A Need To Make JSA More Stringent
  • Discovering Previously Missed Hazards
  • Putting In Checks On Employee Performance

The Takeaway

It’s important to remember that a Job Safety Analysis is simply a tool to identify safety needs and ways to address them. The effectiveness of a JSA should be judged on compliance to safety protocols, and more importantly real improvements in worker safety on the job.

We are wishing you the best and hope that everyone on your job site remains safe and without injuries. While the JSA may lead to investing in more safety equipment on a job site, these investments are well worth the money and effort they require. It goes without saying that the lives and safety of employees is priceless. It may be obvious, but from a purely economic standpoint, using safety precautions can also save you vast amounts of money.