The purpose of this EHS procedure is to provide a framework for reducing risks to employees and protect them from the work place hazards through the implementation of Job Safety and Environmental Analysis. Scope of work for this hse procedure covers all construction project activities.
Hazard is any condition or practice with the potential for injury, permanent disability, harm to life, ill-health, property or environment damage.
Risk is the combination of the likelihood of a specific unwanted event and the potential consequences if it should occur.
Job Safety & Environmental Analysis (JSEA) is a process whereby a job / task is broken into component parts and each part is analyzed to determine if there is a better, safer way to accomplish it.
Roles & Responsibilities:
It is the responsibility of the Project Manager and all supervisors to assess the risks associated with their respective sites and work places.
They should ensure hazard control measures are carried out to minimize the risk of incidents and accidents, which may result in injury to personnel or damage to property or the environment.
Type of EHS Environmental Health and Safety Hazards
There are six types of hazards as follows:
i. Physical: noise, vibration, lighting, electrical, heat and cold, nuisance dust, fire/explosion, machine guarding and working space.
ii. Chemical: gases, dusts, fumes vapours and liquids.
iii. Ergonomic: tool design, equipment design, job task design, work station design and manual handling
iv. Radiation: microwaves, infra red, ultra violet, laser (non-ionizing ), X rays and gamma rays.
v. Psychological: shift work, work load, dealing with the public, harassment, discrimination, threat of danger and low level constant noise.
vi. Biological: infections, bacteria and viruses such as hepatitis.
Prevention and Control of EHS Hazards
Most workplace incidents and accidents are preventable, if the following hazard control methods are adopted in the order listed:
Eliminate the hazard
Is the ideal control solution. For example the risk of electric shock can be eliminated or reduced by adopting other equipment such as cordless battery tools, which have a power level too low to cause injury.
Substitute the Hazard
Work processes need to be examined to find out whether it is possible to achieve the desired result by a less hazardous means. For example, where a person is required to lift components from floor level onto a bench, it may be possible to raise the box of components to bench height mechanically, where heavy bags are handled it may be possible to obtain materials in smaller quantities.
Control the Hazard
If the hazard cannot be eliminated or substituted, the next best measure is to control the hazard at its source. Engineering methods can be introduced to effect a change to the way in which the product is processed, thus eliminating or minimizing the exposure of the person to the hazardous process.
This may include the modification of tools and equipment, the introduction of enclosures such as machinery guarding or causing the machine to be deactivated when a guard is opened or removed. Fail safe devices can be incorporated within a system, which ensures that any failure will leave the system safe.
Job Safety & Environmental Analysis (JSEA)
What is JSEA?
A JSEA in simple terms means ‘planning of safe work’. It is primarily the supervisor’s responsibility to identify, evaluate, decide, act and review every task from start to finish. A job safety & environmental analysis is a process whereby a job is broken into its component parts and each part is analyzed to determine if there is a better, safer way to accomplish it.
Who is involved in JSEA?
Everyone who takes part in any task that has been selected for a JSEA should be involved i.e. workers, supervisor and managers etc.
What are the benefits from a JSEA?
Everyone involved will benefit because:
i. It enhances communication.
ii. Allows input from experienced workers.
iii. Increases job knowledge.
iv. Provides written procedures for use.
v. Helps identify Quality / Inspection requirements
vi. It is a training tool.
vii. It identifies hazards and ways to manage them.
viii. Ultimately, fewer accidents.
ix. Elevates awareness levels
x. Gets buy in from everyone involved.
How to carry out a JSEA?
a) Select the job task.
b) Break the job down into steps.
c) Check each step for hazards.
d) Record the JSEA using work sheets.
e) Review at the end of the job/task.
f) Discuss with al concerned and obtain acknowledgement signatures.
When to do a JSEA
It is recommended that the Project Safety Representative review the completed Job Safety Analysis no more than three (3) days prior to the job commencing, so it is therefore important to complete the Job Safety Analysis as close as practicable to the commencement of the task.
Breaking the job down into steps
a) Having selected the job to be analyzed, the next step is to break it down into its basic steps and record them on Job Safety & Environmental Analysis Worksheet.
b) This permits a systematic critical examination of each part of the job for hazards. The job should be broken down in such a way that the steps describe what is to be done and in what order.
c) The following is an example of a step-by-step breakdown for the job of changing a flat tyre on a light motor vehicle.
Changing a Flat Tyre on a Light Motor Vehicle
- Position vehicle and activate handbrake. Chock wheels.
- Remove spare tyre and locate conveniently.
- Check and position vehicle jack.
- Remove hub cap and crack wheel nuts.
- Jack up vehicle.
- Remove wheel nuts.
- Remove wheel.
- Position spare wheel.
- Position wheel nuts and tighten (do not over tighten)
- Lower jack and remove.
- Tighten wheel nuts firmly.
- Replace hub cap. Remove chocks
Each step tells generally what must be done with no reference to how. No hazards are mentioned and no safety precautions are prescribed. That comes later.
The job steps are described in their normal order of occurrence.
Description of each step starts with a verb, i.e. position, tighten etc.
Best is to make a list of all the job steps and then deal with them one at a time.
It should only take 3 to 10 words to describe a job step, however the following errors are often made with this part of the JSEA.
The job steps are too ‘detailed’
For example:
Step 1: Park the vehicle.
Step 2: Get out of the vehicle.
Step 3: Walk to the vehicle boot.
Step 4: Open the boot.
Step 5: etc.
The job steps are too ‘broad’
For example:
Step 1: Remove the wheel.
Step 2: Put on spare wheel.
Any job, no matter how complex, can be broken down into a series of basic steps. Some jobs may involve two or three steps, while others may include more than a dozen. The majority will break down into less than ten steps for JSEA purposes.
b) If the job does need to be in more steps, then do more than one JSEA, i.e. break the job down into several smaller jobs.
Review each step for hazards
a) After the job has been broken down into its basic steps, each of these is studied for hazards or potential accidents. The idea is to identify all hazards whether they are of the employee’s own making or are part of the job surroundings.
b) Although you can never be certain that you have identified every last accident possibility, you have a better chance if you actually observe the job being done or discuss the likely hazards with a specific group.
c) The long term objective should be to carry out a JSEA on all jobs. However it is important to set priorities.
d) In selecting which jobs should be analyzed, it is useful to begin with those associated with a high incident frequency and where obvious high risk potential is evident.
e) It should be remembered that ‘new’ jobs have no accident history, therefore the potential for any accidents or work related illness may not be recognized unless a JSEA is performed before the new job commenced.
f) The supervisor in charge of the new job has the responsibility for completing the job safely. Therefore the supervisor should ensure that the correct (risk free) procedure is always used.
g) The Safety Representative and / or Safety Committee can also assist in the selecting of jobs that require a JSEA.
JSEA Review and Update
a) This is a very important step in Job Safety & Environmental Analysis because even the best prepared job safety analysis can fail to identify significant factors which may alter the way the job was done or create hazards which were not identified on the original JSEA.
b) At the completion of the job, the JSEA team leader should organize the JSEA team to review and update the JSEA. This will ensure that experiences and information gained by doing the job are not lost, but remain available to others who may be required to perform the same or similar jobs.
c) When reviewing the JSEA on completion of the job, the following should be considered:
Did any of the job steps change (added or deleted)?
Often during the job, changes in the environment, specifications or tools and equipment can cause job steps to be added, deleted or changed. Changes in job steps can introduce new hazards requiring new solutions.
Were there any additional hazards?
When doing a JSEA a great deal of effort is put into trying to identify all of the potential hazards, however it is not always possible to foresee all of the hazards until the job is completed.
What solutions were developed for the additional hazards?
Once a job has commenced additional unforeseen hazards may present themselves so that solutions have to be developed on the job. These developed solutions need to be included on the revised JSEA.
Impact on the job by external influences.
When doing a JSEA it is often difficult to identify all of the possible external factors that impact on the job and the impact of the job on other jobs and people in the immediate vicinity. Feedback of this type can be invaluable to people planning similar jobs in the future
Safety Instructions
Safety Instructions are to be provided as a basis for managing workplace hazards through instruction and training in instances where risk control methods pertaining to a particular task, are not adequately defined by existing procedures, installation manuals or equipment user manuals.