Safety glossary
Plain definitions of 28 words used on industrial sites and in safety records. Each one says what the term means, where it shows up on a job, and which regulation or guidance it comes from, with a link so you can read the source yourself.
A
- after-action report
An after-action report is a written look back at a drill or a real emergency: what was supposed to happen, what did happen, and what will change.
- assembly point
An assembly point is the place people go after they leave a building in an emergency, so someone can find out who made it out and who did not.
C
- confined space
A confined space is a space large enough for a person to enter and work in, with limited or restricted ways in and out, that is not designed for someone to stay in.
- contractor prequalification
Contractor prequalification is checking a contractor's safety record, insurance, training and written programs before they are allowed to start work on your site.
- corrective action
A corrective action is the specific fix assigned after a hazard, near miss or incident, with a person responsible, a due date and a check that it was actually done.
E
- emergency action plan
An emergency action plan is the written plan that says how people report an emergency, how they get out, who stays to shut things down, and how everyone is accounted for afterwards.
- evacuation warden
An evacuation warden is a person given the job of helping others get out during an emergency, checking areas on the way, and helping account for people once they reach the safe area.
H
- hazard
A hazard is anything at work that can hurt someone if it is not controlled: a condition, a task, a chemical or a source of energy.
- headcount
A headcount is the check, after people have left, that everyone who should be accounted for is, with the names and last known locations of anyone missing passed to whoever is in charge.
- hot work
Hot work is any job that can start a fire because it is a source of ignition, such as welding, cutting, burning, heating or riveting.
I
- incident
An incident is an unplanned event at work that hurt someone or could have: a fatality, an injury, an illness or a close call.
- ITAR
ITAR, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, is the US rule set that controls the export of defense articles, defense services and the technical data that describes them, including showing that data to a foreign person inside the United States.
J
- job hazard analysis
A job hazard analysis is breaking a job into steps, identifying what could go wrong at each step, and deciding how to control it before the work starts.
L
- lockout/tagout
Lockout/tagout is putting a lock, a tag or both on the device that controls a machine's energy, so the machine cannot start or release stored energy while someone works on it.
M
- muster point
A muster point is the place a site tells people to gather in an emergency so they can be accounted for; it does the same job as an assembly point under a different name.
N
- near miss
A near miss is an event that could have hurt someone and did not, often by luck; OSHA also calls it a close call.
O
- OSHA 300 log
The OSHA 300 log is the employer's record, for each year, of the work-related injuries and illnesses that OSHA's recordkeeping rule says must be recorded.
P
- permit to work
A permit to work is a written authorization, signed by someone allowed to sign it, for a specific hazardous job to go ahead under named controls for a set period.
R
- recordable injury or illness
A recordable injury or illness is a work-related case serious enough, under OSHA's recordkeeping tests, that it must be entered on the OSHA 300 log.
- refuge or safe area
Refuge or safe area is the term in OSHA's nonmandatory evacuation appendix for the place people go during an evacuation, inside another part of the building or outside, away from the emergency.
- roll call
A roll call is reading names aloud at the assembly point to find out who is missing; it is one way of doing a headcount.
S
- safety concern
A safety concern is anything a worker wants looked at that is not yet an injury, an incident or a named hazard, such as a missing guard, a rushed job or a shortcut that has become normal.
- safety data sheet
A safety data sheet is the document that comes with a hazardous chemical and explains, in sixteen numbered sections, what it is, how it can hurt people and what to do about it.
- safety inspection
A safety inspection is a planned look at a workplace, a job, equipment or a procedure, done to find hazards before they cause harm.
- safety observation
A safety observation is a note that someone saw a condition or a behavior, safe or unsafe, usually written before anyone is hurt.
- stop work authority
Stop work authority is a company rule that gives anyone on a job the right to pause the work when they believe it is about to hurt someone.
T
- toolbox talk
A toolbox talk is a short safety conversation with a crew, usually at the start of a shift or before a task, about the hazards of the work in front of them.
- TRIR
TRIR is the number of recordable injuries and illnesses a company had for every 100 full-time workers in a year, so that companies of different sizes can be compared.
How to read these definitions.
A rule, a piece of guidance and an industry habit are different things, and each entry says which one it is.
Where a term comes from a regulation, the entry quotes or cites the section in the Code of Federal Regulations. Where it comes from OSHA guidance, such as an eTool, a booklet or a recommended practice, the entry says so: guidance is advice, and not following it is not by itself a violation. Where a word is only industry language, the entry says that too, and points to the rule that sits underneath it, if there is one.
Every source was read on 22 October 2026. Rules change, so the links go to the current text. These are plain-language definitions, not legal advice. For a decision on your site, read the standard that applies to it.
The words are the easy part.
The records behind them are the work.
Panora holds the forms, permits, findings and muster records many of these words describe. Bring one of your own and we will walk through what it would capture.