A hazard is any source of potential damage or harm to someone or something. Finding hazards before work starts is the single most useful safety habit you can build.
Look all around the job
To find hazards, look at the physical work area, the equipment, the materials and products you'll use, and how the work is done. Don't forget the psychosocial side of the job, such as stress, violence and harassment. Ask: what could go wrong, and how bad could it be?
The hierarchy of controls
Once you've found a hazard, the hierarchy of controls ranks the ways to deal with it, from most to least effective:
- Elimination: remove the hazard completely.
- Substitution: replace it with something less hazardous.
- Engineering controls: isolate people from the hazard, such as guards or ventilation.
- Administrative controls: change the way people work, such as procedures, training and signs.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE): the last line of defence.
Job hazard analysis (JHA)
A job hazard analysis, also called a job safety analysis (JSA), looks at a job one step at a time. The basic steps are:
- Select the job to be analyzed.
- Break the job down into a sequence of steps.
- Identify the potential hazards in each step.
- Decide on preventive measures to control those hazards.
- Communicate the results to everyone doing the job.
New jobs, changed jobs and jobs that are done only rarely are good ones to analyze, because their hazards are easy to miss. Keep the steps in the right order; steps out of order can hide real hazards. Follow your employer's hazard assessment process before work starts.
Key takeaways
- A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm.
- Control hazards from the top of the hierarchy down; PPE is the last resort.
- A JHA breaks a job into steps, finds hazards in each step and sets controls.
- Share the results with everyone on the job.