Construction Safety &
Quality Consensus
Guidelines
Job Safety Analysis
1.0 ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
1.1. The purpose of a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) program is to mitigate or
eliminate hazards associated with performing specific job tasks. The JSA
program provides a process and tool to identify, evaluate, discuss, mitigate,
and document potential hazards and appropriate control measures. JSAs are
vital to an organization’s overall safety program because they encourage
operational prioritization of safety, integrate safety as part of the work task for
high risk and/or novel activities, and encourage safety communication at the
crew level.
1.2. The purpose of this document is to describe guidelines for the preparation
and communication of task specific JSAs. A JSA, sometimes called a Field
Level Hazard Analysis (FLHA), may be discussed, or included with other
processes such as a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), Site-Specific Safety Plans
(SSSP), and Toolbox Talks. It is important that workers know that the
previously listed items are all jobsite safety-related tools, and each plays a
different role. For these guidelines, the following definitions will be used:
1.2.1. Job Safety Analysis (JSA) – JSAs are prepared for a specific work
activity that will be performed. JSAs are performed to identify
hazards (real and potential) that are, or may be, present at the
specific work location under current environmental conditions
(weather, external impacts, etc.) and to prescribe the appropriate
mitigation of the identified potential hazard(s), before commencing a
work activity. JSAs should be updated when activities scope of work,
or conditions (weather, soil conditions, etc.) change during
performance of the task.
1.2.2. Field Level Hazard Analysis (FLHA) – FLHAs are equivalent to JSAs.
1.2.3. Pre-Job Brief (PJB) – PJBs are equivalent to JSAs.
1.2.4. Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) – A JHA is a document that identifies the
general hazards of and mitigation measures for common
construction activities or tasks, such as excavation, stringing pipe,
lowering-in, welding, tie-ins, bending, etc.
1.2.5. Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP) – An SSSP is a document that is
developed for each specific project, identifying its safety hazards and
how to mitigate them. A SSSP can be important source material for
creating JSAs.
1.2.6. Toolbox Talks – Toolbox talks are utilized for a wide variety of topics
(e.g., safety, task review, environmental, landowner considerations,
etc.). Toolbox talks are particularly useful to communicate “good