Job safety analysis (also known as job hazard analysis or safety analysis) can play a key role in helping keeping your workers safe – and your workers compensation premiums under control. A JSA breaks a specific job into basic steps, identifies the hazards associated with each, and recommends controls for these exposures.
Although you can do a JSA on any job, it makes sense to focus on those that: 1) have the highest injury or illness rates or the potential to cause harm; 2) are new to your workers or have changed procedures recently; and 3) are complex enough to require written instructions.
The analysis should review statistical data to reveal trends and identify specific areas of focus on accident prevention. Data to analyze includes recordable injury and first-aid logs, safety inspections, and reports of accident investigations, and employee hazards. Look for similarities between the data and job location, type of equipment in use, time of day, and day of the week – as well as when and where near misses have occurred. Be sure to include, and document, observations of employees who work in hazard-prone areas.
Once you’ve completed the JSA and identified the hazards, you can develop and implement such corrective actions as:
- finding a new way to do the job
- changing the workplace conditions that create the hazard
- revising job procedures
- reducing the necessity or frequency of high hazard jobs or tasks
As part of every accident investigation, review the analysis. If a JSA hasn’t been conducted, perform one to determine the events and conditions that led to the incident.
For more information on this powerful job safety tool, just give us a call.
