Job Hazard Analysis

A Guide for Voluntary Compliance and Beyond

James Roughton,Nathan Crutchfield

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780128034422
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Tecnología e ingeniería
• Subtopic: Seguridad y salud industriales

Job Hazard Analysis: A Guide for Voluntary Compliance and Beyond, Second Edition, provides a complete reference for performing JHA and setting up a JHA program. The book identifies the basic job steps and tasks, their associated hazards and risks, and safe operating procedures and hazard controls based on this analysis.

Authors James Roughton and Nathan Crutchfield argue that the JHA should be the centerpiece of any risk control and occupational safety and health program. However, the traditional JHA has potential problems in gathering and analysis of task data and, with its focus on the sequence of steps, can miss the behavioral effects and the systems interactions between tools, equipment, materials, work environment, management and the individual worker.

The concepts are presented for the JHA, incorporating elements from Behavior-Based Safety and Six Sigma. Readers are taken through the whole process of developing tools for identifying workplace hazards, developing systems that support hazard recognition, developing an effective JHA, and managing a JHA based program that can be easily incorporated into occupational safety and health management systems, thus allowing businesses to move from mere compliance to a pro-active safety management. The book is supported by numerous examples of JHAs, end of chapter review questions, sample checklists, action plans, and forms.

• Provides a basic understanding of the JHA process and a more in-depth background on the human performance improvement for a successful JHA program implementation
• Methodically develops the risk assessment basics needed within the JHA process
• Presents expanded resources that are useful in safety systems
• Incorporates elements from Behavior-Based Safety and Six Sigma

Chapter One

Why Focus on the Job Hazard Analysis Process

Abstract

The Job hazard analysis (JHA) is “The Centerpiece and Critical Link” to ensure a solid foundation for the safety system. A safety system can be defined as “… a formal, top-down business approach to manage risk, which includes a systemic approach to manage safety, including the necessary organizational structures, accountabilities, policies, and procedures.”

The goal of an overarching safety system is to ensure an effective safety culture that exists within an organization. A true safety culture can exist only when the leadership team fully embraces and understands how jobs, their steps, and tasks are defined, administered, and completed as a whole unit. “A safety culture goes beyond simply managing a basic series of required programs for regulatory compliance. The design of job(s), step(s), and task(s) must take into consideration the variations in cultures and account for the inherent hazards and associated risk that must be managed and controlled.”

Keywords

JHA

employees

process

hazards

steps

“We Report it – You Decide”

—Fox News Broadcast

“We do not want production and a safety program, or production and safety, or production with safety. But, rather, we want safe production.”

—Dan Petersen

Chapter Objectives

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Discuss the importance and benefits of the JHA to the safety culture.

• Compare and contrast the benefits and drawbacks of a JHA process.

• Discuss how to build a case for having a JHA process.

• Discuss how JHA brings focus and respect for the job.

• Discuss the challenges to the JHA process.

1.1. JHAs’ main purpose

JHA’s main purpose is to aid the safety system to:

• Ensure that all members of an organization can recognize and understand real or potential operational hazards, their associated risk, appropriate actions, and controls, necessary to reduce the potential for injury or loss.

• Provide guidance to employees at all levels of the organization so they can demonstrate the importance of correcting potential hazards that they may be routinely exposed to, as well as how to protect themselves and others (Roughton & Crutchfield, 2013).

Based on discussions with safety professionals, when writing “Safety Culture: An Innovative Leadership Approach”, safety efforts must be viewed as an “emerging property” that results from the interactions of all elements of an organization. In this view, the JHA becomes a crucial process element necessary to support the safety culture (Roughton & Crutchfield, 2013).

By being proactive and implementing, a JHA process throughout the organization, the leadership team, and employees can develop a better understanding of task-specific hazards and associated risk. Based on this belief, hazards and associated risk can only be tracked, identified, and controlled by using an ongoing proactive comprehensive JHA process.

1.2. Defining the value proposition case for JHA process

JHA process provides a multipurpose toolkit that can be used for more than just improvement of the safety system. It can provide insights on every aspect of how jobs are designed and how efficiently and effectively hazards and associated risks within the various steps and tasks are controlled. This knowledge can also be used to improve job quality by increasing the greater potential for reducing human errors.

A properly designed JHA can be used as a comprehensive training aid to ensure that all employees know the primary requirements of each assignment and how to make safe choices when performing the required steps and tasks. When JHA is used on a consistent and routine basis, it provides a structured method for developing and maintaining an effective safety system. In turn, a more consistent safety system provides more effective hazard control for work methods. JHA can be used in conjunction with many elements of the safety system such as inspection programs, incident investigations, job observations, as well as for general problem-solving activities.

1.3. Why is the JHA important?

JHA is used to close the gaps that can develop between what is actually being done, as jobs are completed and requirements to implement a successful safety system. When conducting a JHA, an in-depth understanding of tasks-specific physical and mental skill requirements is developed, as the step-by-step and task-by-task analysis is done.

Obvious hazards are identified through JHA process and less obvious hidden hazards become visible as the systematic analysis of each job step and related task are confirmed and reviewed. By combining the identification of potential loss-producing events with a risk analysis, better preventive measures and controls are defined. A uniform JHA approach provides a consistent method for developing effective employee selection and training programs that better ensure that a safe and effective work methods are employed. Refer to Table 1.1 for a list of why JHAs are important.

Table 1.1

Why are JHAs important?

The following list describes various reasons why are JHAs important. JHAs can assist in:

• detecting existing and/or potential hazards and consequences of exposure.

• assessing and developing specific training needs and requirements.

• providing the leadership team with an understanding what each employee should know about how to effectively perform his/hertheir job.

• recognizing changes in procedures, tools, machine/equipment, etc. that may have occurred.

• defining the potential for specific at-risk events and potential loss-producing events.

• identifying preventive measures necessary to modify or control associated risk.

• providing the opportunity to evaluate any residual risk.

(Conducting a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), n.d.).

Caution! Personal protective equipment (PPE) and training are not and should not be the default solution for every hazard or safety related issue. Use of JHA provides a more insightful approach that opens up more opportunities or alternatives for a safe work environment improvement. Refer Chapter 7 for a discussion on techniques and methods to use in selecting hazard and associated risk control methods.

“The JHA process provides a better method to identify opportunities for improvement in the safety system and can help provide the foundation for a hazard and risk-based analysis. As this structured process is followed, issues may be uncovered that may require the leadership team to make decisions if a specific task should be avoided or modified” (Roughton & Crutchfield, 2008).

Refer to Figures 1.1 and 1.2.

Figure 1.1 High Level Overview of the JHA Development Process. Based on and adapted using Roughton and Crutchfield (2008).

Figure 1.2 Overview of the JHA Implementation Process. Based on and adapted using Roughton and Crutchfield (2008).

1.4. Benefits of developing a JHA process

By comprehensively and routinely using JHA as a tool, performance-based measurements can be established to determine if jobs are correctly using the proper controls, procedures, and protocols. Performance-based measurements without an understanding of how jobs are completed and accomplished may not be providing a full picture of where problems or issues exist. As a result, the potential to identify loss-producing events can remain hidden from both the employees and the leadership team.

If implemented correctly, JHA has the potential for improving the following:

• Properly selecting materials, equipment, and tools necessary to complete a job, and reduce the hazards and associated risk within the steps and task where those items are being used.

By using a struct...