Job Safety Analysis Safety Program

Chapter Section

Job Safety Analysis (JSA’s) is a process of determining physical requirements, environmental conditions and safety factors relating to a specific job or task. JSA’s are best used for stationary or repetitive production tasks or product movement, in which the job, equipment and work environment change very little.

Safe Operating Procedures (SOP’s) are written step-by-step procedures for a specific non-repetitive task which may be hazardous or critical. The purpose of an SOP is to provide written guidance for a particular task such that any qualified person can successfully and safely complete the task. SOP’s are best developed and used for highly skilled jobs and when the equipment and work environment change often. For example, an SOP with appropriate warnings and cautions, would best be developed and used for tasks such as confined space entry, maintenance tasks, lockout-tagout, welding operations, system startup and shutdown.

JSA’s/SOP’s provide:

• PPE determination process
• Resource for supervisors to train new employees
• Control of job steps
• Identification and control of potential hazards
• Benchmark for accident investigation
• Review of employee performance