6 Hazard Identification, Job Hazard Analysis, and Inspections
6.1 Jobsite Surveys and Inspections
A survey of each workplace is made to identify hazards or potential hazards. Deliberately check inside, outside, and around operations, focusing on the occupancy, operations, machines, processes, and activities of the project. Findings are documented, prioritized by severity and likelihood, and corrected — eliminating the hazard where possible, otherwise managing the risk through the hierarchy of controls.
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Superintendent: daily walk-through of active work areas
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Documented site inspection (Appendix H checklist): weekly, and after significant weather, phase changes, or incidents
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Safety Coordinator / management audits: periodic, unannounced
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Equipment inspections: per manufacturer and OSHA requirements (scaffolds each shift, excavations daily, rigging before each use, etc.)
6.2 Job Hazard Analysis (JHA)
A JHA is prepared for high-hazard or non-routine tasks (work at height, demolition, excavation, hot work, energized work, confined spaces, heavy hoisting). The JHA breaks the task into steps, identifies the hazards of each step, and assigns controls. Crews review the JHA before starting the task and whenever conditions change. A last-minute risk assessment ('stop and think') is expected before every task.
6.3 Risk Tolerance
Understanding risk tolerance is key to improving safety performance. Three cognitive processes occur when assessing hazards: hazard identification (Do I see it?), risk perception (Do I understand it?), and risk tolerance (Do I accept or reject it?). Most incidents involve a risk that was seen but accepted.
The ten factors that inflate risk tolerance — overestimating capability or experience; familiarity with the task (complacency); underestimating the seriousness of the outcome; voluntary actions and feeling in control; lack of personal experience with a serious outcome; low perceived cost of noncompliance; overconfidence in equipment; overconfidence in PPE; profit or gain from shortcuts; and role models accepting risk — are covered in training and toolbox talks. Supervisors are expected to recognize these factors in themselves and their crews, and to use JHAs, last-minute risk assessments, and peer-to-peer safety conversations to counter them.