ISO 45001 Job Safety Analysis (JSA) Template

Introduction

Today’s world is fast-paced, and the need for a safe and healthy workplace is critical. ISO 45001 helps organizations maintain and improve their environmental, occupational health, and safety (OH&S) performance. In this article, we will discuss everything concerning the ISO 45001 JSA template.

ISO 45001 Overview: The OHS Standard

ISO 45001 specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system, enabling organizations to improve their OH&S performance. This standard focuses on reducing occupational injury, ill health, and the impact of work on health and OH&S.

What is a Job Safety Analysis?

A job safety analysis (JSA), also commonly referred to as a job hazard analysis identifies potential hazards associated with each step in a specific job or task being carried out. A JSA ensures that the job is done safely.

The Purpose of a JSA

The main purposes of a JSA include:

• Identifying hazards associated with a specific job, process, or work.
  
  

• Assess risks associated with each job.
  
  

• Determining methods required to control the hazards identified.
  
  

• Ensuring that procedures, practices, and techniques are improved to ensure occupational health and safety.
  
  

• Training employees on health and safety measures.

Job Safety Analysis plays a critical role in an occupational health and safety management system because of its Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment capabilities. The ISO 45001:2018 standard’s clause 6.1.2 requires that an organization must implement procedures for hazard identification and risk assessment for occupational health and safety and other risks pertinent to the OH&S management system.

The ISO 45001 JSA Requirements

Therefore, using a JSA ensures that your organization meets the requirements of the ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety standards. Furthermore, an ISO-compliant JSA helps your organization implement controls and reduce the risks involved in each process throughout the value chain.

Organizations can utilize a JSA to control risks by:

• Ensuring that all the hazards in the facility, process, or equipment are checked regularly.
  
  

• Having a safe operating procedure for every machinery, equipment, process, or facility.
  
  

• Ensuring that every worker understands the operation process and identifies the risks associated with the tools and equipment.

ISO 45001 JSA Template Components

The ISO 45001 JSA Template usually contains the following general elements:

1. Job/Task Identification

These sections contain general information about the job or task. The job or task name should be descriptive; for example, “Forklift operation.” A few words can adequately describe most jobs, such as “Confined space entry” and “Maintenance of conveyor belt.” The job location and date of analysis and those of the individuals analyzing the job should also be included: supervisors, workers, safety office, and designers. The reviewer and approver should also add their names and approval dates.

2. Breaking Down the Task Steps

The JSA requires a breakdown of the specific tasks involved. Usually, the person analyzing the task identifies all the steps necessary for completing the job. It is crucial to number the steps appropriately; for example:

All basic job steps should be listed according to the order in which they were performed. Always use action verbs to describe what the worker does in each step. For example; Step 1: "Position forklift at pallet," the valve.” Avoid “Opening the valve” as in this instance the action is done by using the noun “opening.”

3. Identifying Potential Hazards

In this section, list all potential hazards associated with all the steps you’ve identified in the previous section. Consider physical, chemical, and biological hazards. There are different kinds of hazards, including:

• Physical hazards include noise, vibration, radiation, extremes in temperature, and insufficient lighting.
  
  

• Chemical hazards include exposure to toxic or corrosive chemicals, flammable liquids or gases, and other harmful airborne contaminants.
  
  

• Biological hazards include bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.
  
  

• Ergonomic hazards occur because of a poor work environment.
  
  

• Safety hazards refer to physical hazards in the workplace that can cause harm, such as being struck by an object, caught-in, caught-between, struck-by, slips, trips, and falls, electricity, and fire.
  
  

• Psychological hazards may result from stress and excessive workload.
  
  

• Environmental hazards are uncomfortable working conditions, outdoor weather, and poor building ventilation.

4. Assessing Risks

After identifying all potential hazards, you should assess and prioritize them. Usually, risks are scored by:

• Frequency.
  
  

• Severity of the injury.

Risks occur with a likelihood or frequency score, ranging from high or very likely, to unlikely and very unlikely. After identifying the frequency, hazards would also need to be prioritized depending on the severity of the risks. The consequences of these risks range from trivial to major. Afterward, determine the risk levels, for instance, critical, high, moderate, and low.

5. Implementing Control Measures

In this section, describe the specific means that will be implemented to control the hazards identified. The different ways that hazards can be controlled include:

• Eliminating the hazards at their source.
  
  

• Substituting hazardous materials with less hazardous ones.
  
  

• Using engineering controls to isolate persons from hazards.
  
  

• Implementing administrative controls to guide safe work practices.
  
  

• Using personal protective equipment when all the other measures have been implemented.

6. Assigning Responsibilities and Review

Assign appropriate responsibilities and a specific date for reviewing and evaluating the above control measures. It is always necessary to keep track of the control measures assigned to whom. Furthermore, ensure the assigned reviewer evaluates, updates, and reviews these control measures after a given time period.

The Advantages of ISO 45001 JSA Templates

There are several advantages and benefits of utilizing an ISO 45001 JSA template. One of them is that these job safety analysis templates promote and ensure the health and safety of employees and workers. ISO 45001 JSAs are crucial components in ensuring the safety of an organization’s personnel. Another benefit is that these JSAs make it easy to fulfill ISO compliance requirements. Since they include hazard identification and risk assessment procedures, organizations can easily meet the requirements for ISO 45001.

JSAs are also necessary to ensure that the control measures identified are implemented and that they are cost-effective and appropriate for eliminating or reducing occupational hazards.

Therefore, an ISO-compliant job safety analysis ensures:

• Increased awareness of health and safety amongst employees.
  
  

• Easy and systematic identification of hazards for specific jobs.
  
  

• Control of all potentially hazardous conditions in the workplace.
  
  

• An increase in workplace safety.
  
  

• A reduction and control of the risks associated with various processes an organization performs.
  
  

• The fulfillment of the organization’s requirements for ISO 45001.

Implementing Your ISO 45001 JSA Template

To implement an ISO 45001 JSA, the organization must ensure that its supervisory personnel and workers are trained on how to complete an ISO-compliant JSA. Furthermore, when analyzing a specific job, organizations will find that the involvement of the workers facilitates the identification of the control measures and hazards for that particular job.

Conclusion

In conclusion, an ISO 45001 job safety analysis template enables an organization to fulfill and meet the requirements for an outstanding occupational heath and safety (OH&S) system, which promotes the health and safety of the workforce involved in performing various tasks.