What is a job hazard analysis (JHA)?
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.
Also called JHA, job safety analysis, JSA
What it means.
OSHA's booklet on the subject describes it as a technique that focuses on job tasks as a way to identify hazards before they occur, and the same booklet also uses the name job safety analysis. The booklet is guidance, not a standard.
Some rules require a related assessment under a different name. The personal protective equipment standard, 29 CFR 1910.132(d), requires the employer to assess the workplace to determine whether hazards are present, or are likely to be present, that call for protective equipment, and to verify in writing that the assessment was done. A JHA is how many sites do this kind of thinking for a specific task.
A job hazard analysis is a technique that focuses on job tasks as a way to identify hazards before they occur.
Where it shows up on a job.
Before replacing a pump, the crew lists the steps: isolate, drain, unbolt, lift, fit, test. For each one they write what could hurt them and the control, then read and sign it before starting.
Where this comes from.
Each source was read on 22 October 2026. Guidance is advice; a regulation is the rule.
- OSHA 3071, Job Hazard AnalysisOccupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA guidance, advisory. What a hazard is, and what a job hazard analysis is.
- 29 CFR 1910.132(d)Code of Federal Regulations, Title 29. Regulation. The workplace hazard assessment for protective equipment.
A plain-language definition, not legal advice. For a decision on your site, read the standard that applies to it.
Related terms
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
In PanoraHazard zones and JHA: A job hazard analysis tied to a zone on your site, read and signed on a worker's phone.