A Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is a systematic process used to incorporate established safety and health principles into specific job tasks or operations. The primary purpose of a JSA is to identify potential hazards associated with a task and to develop procedures to eliminate or reduce those risks. JSA is used to identify hazards before work begins and to implement measures that reduce the likelihood of workplace injuries and illnesses. It is also a core element of broader occupational safety and health programs that emphasize proactive hazard identification and risk control.
The process is also referred to as: Job Hazard Analysis: (JHA), "Hazardous Task Analysis" (HTA), or "Job Hazard Breakdown". In this context, the terms "job" and "task" are often used interchangeably to describe a specific work assignment.Examples of such assignments include operating machinery, using fire suppression equipment, or performing vehicle maintenance, each of which may involve distinct hazards that can be identified and controlled through analysis.
A JSA supports the identification and implementation of appropriate control measures, including engineering controls, administrative changes to work procedures, and the use of Personal protective equipment. It is generally applied as a continuous process rather than a one-time activity, allowing hazards to be reassessed as workplace conditions, equipment, or processes change.
Purpose and Applications Job safety analysis is used to identify hazards associated with specific tasks and to establish controls before work is performed. By breaking tasks into steps and evaluating each for potential risk, JSAs support the prevention of workplace injuries and illnesses.
JSAs are commonly applied in industries such as construction, manufacturing, maintenance, and healthcare, particularly for high-risk or non-routine tasks. They are also used as training tools and as part of occupational safety and health management systems to improve hazard awareness and standardize safe work practices.
Terminology and definitions
Workplace hazard categories Workplace hazards can be allocated to six categories: Safety hazards: Examples: spills, working from heights, confined spaces Biological hazards: Examples; bodily fluids, animal droppings, pathogens Physical hazards: Examples: radiation, extreme temperatures, loud noises Ergonomic hazards: Examples: awkward postures, incorrect lifting, vibration Chemical hazards: Examples: vapors and fumes, pesticides, flammable liquids Work organization hazards: Examples: workload demands, job stress, lack of respect
Mechanism of injury Mechanism of injury (MOI) is the means by which an injury occurs. It is important because in the absence of an MOI there is no hazard. Common mechanisms of injury are "slips, trips and falls", for example: Hazard: a tool bag obstructing a walkway (the tool bag of itself would not be a hazard, the bad placement is necessary to make it a hazard) Mechanism of injury: tripping over tool bag, falling onto hard surface. Injury: bone fracture
Other common mechanisms of injury include: Struck against or by Contact with or by Caught in, on, by or between Exposure to Fall to same or lower level
Likelihood Likelihood is how often an event is reasonably and realistically expected to occur in a given time, and may be expressed as a probability, frequency or percentage.
Consequence Consequence is the outcome of an event expressed qualitatively or quantitatively, being a loss, injury, disadvantage or gain. There may be a range of possible outcomes associated with an event.
Consequence is the severity of the injury or harm that can be reasonably and realistically expected from exposure to the mechanism of injury of the hazard being rated. An implemented control may affect the severity of the injury, but it has no effect on the way the injury occurred. Therefore, when rating risk, the consequence remains the same for both the initial rating and the residual rating. People inherently tend to overestimate severity of consequence when rating risk, but the rating should be both reasonable and realistic.
Risk Risk is the combination of likelihood and consequence. The risk at hand ties directly into the likelihood and severity of an incident.
Risk authority The risk authority is the organizational level of the person authorized to accept a specified level of risk. For example, different levels of risk authorities may be assigned as follows:
Risk level Risk authority Low risk Supervisor Moderate risk Superintendent Significant risk Manager High risk Unacceptable without mitigation
"As low as reasonably practicable" (ALARP) As low as reasonably practicable when applied to job safety analysis means that it is not necessary to reduce risk beyond the point where the cost of further control becomes disproportionate to any achievable safety benefit. The "ALARA" acronym ("As low as reasonably achievable") is also in common usage.
Reasonably practicable In relation to a duty to ensure health and safety, reasonably practicable means that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done to ensure health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters including:How to determine what is reasonably practicable to meet a health and safety duty - Guidance note - Safe Work Australia - May 2013 The likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring The degree of harm that might result from the hazard or the risk What the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the hazard or risk, and about the ways of eliminating or minimizing the risk The availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimize the risk After assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimizing the risk, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimizing the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the expected reduction of risk
Work process The way in which work is performed is called the work process. This entails all actions taken to do a specific role in the workplace.
PEPE PEPE is used to assist in identifying hazards. It is an acronym for the four elements that are present in every task of the work process: Process, Environment, People, EMT, which is itself an acronym for 'equipment, materials and tools'.
Process In this context, process is about procedures, standards, legislation, safe work instructions, permits and permit systems, risk assessments and policies. Key factors for effective process are that the relevant components are in place, easy to follow and regularly reviewed and updated.
Environmental hazards People may be exposed to issues related to: Access and egress Obstructions Weather Dust, heat, cold, noise Darkness Contaminants Isolated workers Other workers
Personnel hazards To assist people to be safe in their workplace they need to be provided with sufficient information, training, instructions and supervision. People may be: Untrained Not yet competent Uncertified Inexperienced Unsupervised Affected by alcohol or other drugs Fatigued Inadequately instructed Suffering from stress from home life or workplace bullying Have a poor attitude to, or refuse to follow procedures
Equipment, materials and tools The right equipment, materials and tools must be selected for the task, and incorrect selections may be hazardous in themselves. The equipment, materials and/or tools may be hazardous, e.g. sharp, hot, vibrating, heavy, fragile, contain pinch points, a hazardous substance containing hydrocarbons, acids, alkalis, glues, solvents, asbestos, et cetera There may be a need for isolating personnel from energy sources such as electricity, hydraulic, pneumatic, radiation and gravitational sources Are the equipment, materials, and tools in date? Does it require certification and/or calibration, tested and tagged? Obstructions should be kept out of walkways and leads and hoses suspended?
Hazard controls Controls are the barriers between people and/or assets and the hazards. Controls can also be thought of as "guardrails" that prevent negative impacts from occurring.
A hard control provides a physical barrier between the person and the hazard. Hard controls include machine guards, restraint equipment, fencing/barricading. A soft control does not provide a physical barrier between the person and the hazard. Soft controls include signage, procedures, permits, verbal instructions etc.
Control effectiveness criteria Controls measures identified through a JSA are typically selected using the Hierarchy of hazard controls, which prioritizes eliminating hazards over relying on less effective measures such as personal protective equipment. This approach supports more effective and sustainable risk reduction strategies. The effectiveness of a control is measured by its ability to reduce the likelihood of a hazard causing injury or damage. A control is either effective or not.
To gauge this effectiveness several control criteria are used, which: Address the relevant aspects of process, environment, people, and equipment, materials and tools (PEPE), Reduce likelihood to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP), Selected hard controls in preference to soft controls, and Contain a 'doing word'.
There is no commonly used mathematical way in which multiple controls for a single hazard can be combined to give a score that meets an organizations acceptable risk level. In instances where the residual risk is greater than the organizations acceptable risk level, consultation with the organizations relevant risk authority should occur.
Hierarchy of controls
Hierarchy of control is a system used in industry to minimize or eliminate exposure to hazards. It is a widely accepted system promoted by numerous safety organizations. This concept is taught to managers in industry, to be promoted as a standard practice in the workplace. Various illustrations are used to depict this system, most commonly a triangle.
The hierarchy of hazard controls are, in descending order of effectiveness: Elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment.
Limitations While job safety analysis is widely used to identify and control hazards, it has several limitations. The effectiveness of a JSA depends on the knowledge and experience of those conducting the analysis, and hazards may be overlooked if tasks are not fully evaluated.
JSAs may also be less effective in addressing long-term or less obvious exposures, such as those related to chronic health risk. In addition, analyses can become outdated if they are not regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in equipment, processes, or work conditions.
Scope of application A job safety analysis is a documented risk assessment developed when company policy directs employees to do so. Workplace hazard identification and an assessment of those hazards may be required before every job.
Analyses are usually developed when directed to do so by a supervisor, when indicated by the use of a first tier risk assessment and when a hazard associated with a task has a likelihood rating of 'possible' or greater.
Generally, high consequence, high likelihood task hazards are addressed by way of a job safety analysis. These may include, but are not limited to, those with a history of, or potential for, injury, harm or damage such as those involving:
Fire, chemicals or a toxic or oxygen deficient atmosphere Tasks carried out in new environments Rarely performed tasks Tasks that may impact on the integrity or output of a processing system