By Cecile Felsher, CIH, CSP
In 1996, the National Safety Council (NSC) designated June as National Safety Month to bring awareness to health and safety risks in the workplace and at home. It is a great time for companies to evaluate their workplaces and identify the potential hazards associated with the processes.
The Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) is a helpful tool to assess workplace hazards. The JHA is a technique to identify job task hazards, evaluate the worker’s potential exposure to the hazard, and determine if any controls are in place. Once uncontrolled hazards are identified and reviewed, the employer should take steps to eliminate or reduce the risk to an acceptable level.
The JHA is a helpful tool for supervisors to train new employees and explain the safety controls. In addition, supervisors can train their employees on uncontrolled hazards to bring awareness to a potential safety risk.
Do you have JHAs in your facility? If so, are they current? Often, companies have taken the time to develop JHAs but neglect to use them. Use National Safety Month as a reminder to review your JHAs. Perhaps, ask each employee to review their own and to notify their supervisor if any updates are needed. They can review in groups if they work in teams or individually. It opens a safety dialog between employees and supervisors. To engage employees, you can ask them three questions such as:
- Do you have any uncontrolled hazards in your work area/process?
- Have any changes to controls been made in your work area/process?
- Do you know of any hazard in your work area/process that is not currently listed in the JHA?
This annual review is a great way to raise safety awareness in the workplace while including your workforce to communicate the hazards and risks they may be exposed to.
Should you have any questions related to employee and/or workplace safety, you can contact NV5 at Environmental@NV5.com.