A job safety analysis (JSA) breaks a specific job into sequential steps, identifies the hazards present at each step, and documents the preventive control measures and personal protective equipment needed before anyone starts work. The same document goes by the names job hazard analysis (JHA) and task hazard analysis (THA). Below are ten completed job safety analysis examples, written for molding, packaging, warehouse and maintenance work, that you can copy and adapt rather than start from a blank page.
Every worked example here follows the same three columns a plant or site safety office expects: job step, hazard, and control measure. Two more columns matter once the form goes live: who is responsible for the control, and the residual risk after the control is in place.
- Job steps in the order the work actually happens, usually 5 to 10 of them
- Hazards for each step, written as a real exposure rather than a warning
- Control measures placed at the highest practical level of the hierarchy of controls
- Responsible person for each control, by name or role, not by department
- Required PPE as a separate column or checklist row
- Initial and residual risk ratings so the crew can see what the controls bought them
- Crew review and sign-off, with a review date, before the first use
Practitioners on r/SafetyProfessionals make the same point repeatedly: a JSA only protects anyone if the people who do the job helped write it. A form built by a safety manager alone reads like it was written by a safety manager alone, and the crew works around it.
Table of Contents
- Job Safety Analysis Examples at a Glance
- 1. Injection Molding Machine Startup and Shutdown
- 2. Plastic Extrusion and Die Changeover
- 3. Packaging-Line Carton Changeover
- 4. Pallet Jack and Material Handling
- 5. Forklift Refueling and Battery Change
- 6. Production Line Changeover and Cleaning
- 7. Machine Guard Removal for Maintenance
- 8. Compressed-Air System Maintenance
- 9. Receiving and Inspecting Plastic Resin Drums
- 10. Manual Assembly or Small-Parts Kitting Station
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How to Turn a Job Safety Analysis Example into Your Own
Job Safety Analysis Examples at a Glance
| Work activity | Main hazards | Example control | Why this JSA exists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Injection molding machine startup and shutdown | Hot surfaces, stored hydraulic and electrical energy, unexpected cycle start, clamp-zone crush | Lockout/tagout, fixed and interlocked guarding, hot-surface guarding, zero-energy verification before restart | Proves the machine is safe before a cycle starts, not after someone is hurt |
| 2. Extrusion and die changeover | Melt pressure and hot tooling, rotating shafts, sharp die edges, manual die lifting, fume and heat exposure | Shutdown isolation, documented cool-down time, die-handling aids, two-person rule for heavy dies | Die changes are done under time pressure with heat and weight both in play |
| 3. Packaging-line carton changeover | Pinch points at the packer and caseer, line-stop restart, sharp changeover tools, falling cartons, awkward reaches | Machine isolation for adjustment, cut-resistant gloves at the tool station, step platform for high cases, physical restart button check | Changeovers happen off the main rhythm, when attention is lowest |
| 4. Pallet jack and manual material handling | Struck-by from a loaded pallet, tip-over on a ramp or threshold, blind corners, pedestrian mixing, brake failure | Marked pedestrian lanes, one-way travel rules, brake and load-wheel inspection, spotter at blind corners | Warehouse injuries cluster where traffic crosses and loads get high |
| 5. Forklift refueling and battery change | Flammable fuel, sulfuric acid, hydrogen gas at the charger, electrical arcs, exhaust, heavy battery lifting | Bonding strap and nozzle discipline, acid-rated PPE, ventilated charging area with eyewash, battery hoist or lift table | Fuel handling burns and acid exposures need controls, not just gloves |
| 6. Production line changeover and cleaning | Residual product and cleaning chemicals, removed guarding, mis-set tooling, cut tools, restart with guards off | Line clearance procedure, documented isolation, tool control and count, guard restoration checklist before energizing | Guard-off time is the highest-exposure window on most lines |
| 7. Machine guard removal for maintenance | Unexpected energization, rotating parts, springs and stored pressure, sharp sheet-metal edges, suspended loads | Lockout/tagout with personal locks, try-start verification, blocking for stored energy, controlled guard refit | Maintenance is where a plant skips the isolation everyone else follows |
| 8. Compressed-air system maintenance | Stored pneumatic energy, hose whip, noise exposure, flying debris, adjacent electrical work | Bleed and block the line, pressure-rated fittings, zero-pressure verification, hearing protection, lockout on any electrical work | There is often no lockout point, so verification has to be built in by hand |
| 9. Receiving and inspecting resin drums | Drum movement and roll-off, manual lifting, unknown or mislabelled contents, dust, damaged or leaking containers | Dock positioning and chocks, drum inspection before moving, SDS review before sampling, spill kit staged at the sampling point | The drum arrives before anyone knows what is in it |
| 10. Manual assembly or small-parts kitting station | Repetitive strain, awkward posture and reach, sharp stamped components, small-part ingestion, pinch points, line-side stock | Sit-stand bench with adjustable-height work surface, parts delivered in bin height, cut-resistant gloves for steel parts, fixed-tool control | The slowest-building injuries in a plant are ergonomic, not dramatic |
1. Injection Molding Machine Startup and Shutdown
The molding example is where most plants get their first JSA right or wrong, because the same hazard shows up twice: once at startup and again at shutdown. Lockout is not the whole job here. The rest of the work is proving the machine is cold, still, and mechanically pinned before a hand goes anywhere near the nozzle, mold area or clamp.
What a molding job safety analysis should put in the hazard column
Write what the worker can observe, not what you hope they observe. “Barrel and nozzle skin exceed the burn threshold and stay hot for hours after cycle end” survives an audit. “Hot surfaces” does not. The same test applies to the rest of the hazard column, and to every one of the ten job safety analysis examples that follow.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Review the JSA with the crew at the machine | Form signed but not read; hazards from the previous changeover not captured | Verbal walk-through of each step by the lead operator; stop work if anything on the form no longer matches the machine | None | Low |
| Check guarding, interlocks and the light-curtain or door switch before energizing | Guard removed for a previous job and not refitted; interlock bypassed with a tie or tape | Guard presence and interlock function check documented per job; bypassed interlocks are a lockout-level defect, not a paperwork note | None | Medium |
| Energize hydraulics and axis motion for dry cycles | Unexpected axis travel; servo motion during setup | Setup mode with reduced speed and no cycle; hands clear of the mold parting line; second person at the pendant | Safety glasses | Medium |
| Heat the barrel and hold at process temperature | Burn from barrel, nozzle, heater bands and hopper throat; fume and heat stress near the machine | Guard or shield on the nozzle area; defined stand-off distance during heat-up; local exhaust at the hopper where regrind is added | Heat-resistant gloves for handling hot tooling, safety glasses | Medium |
| Run the first shots and inspect the part | Part ejection, flash and hot sprue; flying debris; access into the mold while the cycle runs | Sample collection from outside the guarded zone or with the machine in a controlled hold; no reach-in during an automatic cycle | Safety glasses, cut-resistant gloves for the trim station | Medium |
| Shut down: stop production, purge, drop temperature | Purged material and molten purge string; hot purge bin; reheat if the sequence is reversed | Purge into a labelled metal container with a lid; no plastic bins for hot purge; documented cool-down time before any tooling is touched | Heat-resistant gloves, face shield for the purge | Medium |
| Isolate and clear residual pressure before tooling work | Trapped hydraulic and pneumatic pressure; clamp closing under residual pressure; mold still moving | Lockout/tagout on the electrical disconnect; bleed and block hydraulic accumulators; try-start verification by the person holding the lock | None during the verification itself | Low |
| Remove mold and load the next one | Mold weight and swing; lifting attachment failure; pinch at the platen; sharp flash edges | Lifting-rated straps and a checked hoist; mold cart for anything over the two-person lift limit; mold halves supported before the rig is released | Cut-resistant gloves, safety shoes | Medium |
Residual risk stays at Medium across most of this example because the controls reduce exposure rather than removing the exposure. That is normal and worth saying out loud in the pre-task briefing, because crews read a Low rating on a molding machine as permission to relax.
2. Plastic Extrusion and Die Changeover
A die change on an extruder gets analyzed separately from startup because the dominant hazards are heat, mass and pressure rather than cycle motion. The die itself is often several hundred pounds and has to come off while the barrel is still warm enough to be uncomfortable to touch and cool enough to be handled at all. That window is where the two-person rule and the die cart earn their place.
Write the cool-down as a number, not a feeling. “Barrel below 200 degrees Fahrenheit, measured and recorded” is a control. “Once it is cool enough” is an assumption that varies by operator, by shift and by how busy the schedule is.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop the extruder and shut down heaters, cooling water and drives | Residual melt pressure in the screw and adapter; hot barrel surfaces | Standard shutdown, then confirm heater power is off at the panel and not just at the screen | Safety glasses | Medium |
| Record and observe the cool-down period | Burn from the barrel, adapter and die; heat stress over a long wait | Timed cool-down with a recorded temperature reading and a signed hand-off; break available during the wait | None during the wait | Low |
| Isolate the extruder and lock out the drive | Unexpected rotation of the screw or torque limiter during the change | Lockout/tagout at the main disconnect with a personal lock; release stored pressure before removing any die component | None | Low |
| Slacken the die bolts and remove the die from the adapter | Weight shift as the die breaks free; hands and fingers in the bolt pattern; sharp bolt threads | Die hoist or overhead crane with a rated lifting beam; support the die as soon as it is off the adapter; two-person lift for anything above the team limit | Cut-resistant gloves, safety shoes, safety glasses | Medium |
| Move the die to the cleaning bench | Manual handling injury; rolling die; pinch between die and cart | Die cart with chocks; the hoist stays attached until the die is seated and blocked; no hand repositioning while it is suspended | Cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Clean the die and refit screen packs or breaker plates | Carbonized polymer dust and fume; sharp die edges; hot tooling still warm after cleaning | Local exhaust at the bench; wire brush and gloves rather than compressed air to clear deposits; tasks moved off the main line | Respirator for heavy carbon buildup, cut-resistant gloves, safety glasses | Medium |
| Refit the die, torque the bolts in sequence and re-energize | Under-torqued die bolts and die separation at temperature; wrong torque order | Torque wrench with a documented sequence and value; a witness mark on each bolt; heat-up and hold before the first production run | Heat-resistant gloves during heat-up | Medium |
One note from practice: extrusion die changes get rushed when the line is waiting on a customer order. If your JSA does not say who calls the time pressure off, the schedule will do it for you.
3. Packaging-Line Carton Changeover
Carton changeover is the most common job safety analysis a packaging plant writes, because it happens several times a shift, often on a different crew each time, and it is the task nobody formally trains. The hazards come from four places: pinch points at the packer and caseer, the tools used to swap the magazine, the cartons themselves at odd sizes, and the physical awkwardness of reaching into a running format.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop the line and clear product from the infeed and discharge | Residual product on belts; slip and contamination risk during cleanup | Line clearance completed and checked by a second person before the format change begins | Cut-resistant gloves | Low |
| Isolate the packer and caseer for adjustment | Pinch injury at gripper heads and case squarer; unexpected jog start | Machine-specific isolation points locked; hands clear of adjustment points; jog function disabled where the machine allows it | Safety glasses | Low |
| Swap the carton magazine and set the format | Falling cartons and heavy magazine sections; reach over the line; sharp magazine edges | Magazine supported by its own bracket or a second person before release; step platform so nobody climbs the frame; cut-resistant gloves for magazine edges | Cut-resistant gloves, safety shoes | Medium |
| Change guides, dividers and flap settings | Pinch at guide rails; awkward shoulder reach; hand caught during a test | Guides adjusted in the machine’s manual adjustment mode; reach limited to the guard line; adjustable-height platform at tall formats | Cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Run first cases and check pack quality | Restart with a mis-set guide that jams and throws cases | First three cases run in a controlled hold with the operator at the stop button; guards confirmed refitted before the rate comes up | Safety glasses | Medium |
| Return to rate, clear the waste and close out | Housekeeping lapse; accumulation of scrap near the line; trip hazards from discarded wire and straps | Wire, strap and scrap bins at the changeover point; end-of-changeover floor sweep; E-stop function check | Cut-resistant gloves | Low |
4. Pallet Jack and Material Handling
Manual pallet handling is a simple job with a bad injury record, and the reason is almost always traffic, not lifting. A loaded pallet at knee height moving quietly through a doorway is the hazard. The fix is a floor plan with lanes, a rule for blind corners, and a pre-use check that actually gets recorded.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Check the pallet jack before use | Failed brake, cracked hydraulic hose, worn load wheels, missing fork tip | Documented pre-use inspection on the jack; any defect tag removes the jack from service rather than deferring it | Safety shoes | Low |
| Inspect the pallet and the load | Broken boards, overhanging load, unstable stack, shrink wrap under tension | Re-wrap or re-stack rather than transport a bad pallet; load height kept within the marked fork carriage limit | Cut-resistant gloves for broken boards | Medium |
| Pick up the load and travel | Tip-over on a threshold or ramp; load riding too high; operator sightline blocked | Pull, never push, when the load blocks the view; ramp or dock-plate limits on load weight; no travel with a load raised | Safety shoes | Medium |
| Cross a pedestrian path or a blind corner | Struck-by; pedestrian steps behind the load | Marked pedestrian lanes physically separated from travel lanes; stop, look and back up at every corner; spotters at fixed blind points | High-visibility vest | Medium |
| Set the load down | Tip-over on set-down; pinch feet; hand on the falling load | Set-down areas level and clear; hands clear during the set; no stacking above the marked height | Safety shoes, cut-resistant gloves | Low |
If your plant also runs powered industrial trucks in the same space, the two vehicles need different lanes entirely. Mixing a pallet jack with a forklift at aisle speed is the closest thing manufacturing has to a coin flip.
5. Forklift Refueling and Battery Change
Refueling and battery change are usually written as one job safety analysis, then split into two forms, because the hazard profiles barely overlap. Refueling is fire and fumes. Battery change is acid, weight and hydrogen. Keeping them on a single form tends to produce controls that fit neither job.
The controls that matter most here
Bonding before flowing is the one that gets skipped and the one with the worst history. The nozzle is held, the trigger is squeezed, sparks jump from a non-bonded container, and the vapours already in the space ignite. On the battery side, the detail that decides whether the job is safe is the lift: batteries are heavy, they are awkward, and a suspended battery over an open stand is a dropped-load hazard every time it is lifted.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move the forklift to the refueling area | Travel with the wrong forklift attitude; collision on the way in | Refuel in place with the forks low and the brake set; travel speed limited in the refueling area | Safety glasses | Low |
| Bond the container before opening the nozzle | Static discharge igniting vapour; no ignition source control | Bonding cable attached before the nozzle is removed from the container; engine off; no radio charging or hot work in the area | Face shield, chemical-resistant gloves, FR clothing | Medium |
| Dispense fuel slowly and close the container | Spill onto the floor; overfill and vapour release; hose whip | Slow dispense at the rated flow; cap replaced immediately; hose inspected for damage; spill response steps available at the station | Face shield, chemical-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Clean any spill and report it | Slip; vapour remaining in an unventilated bay | Spill kit at the station, used immediately; area ventilated before anyone returns to the space | Chemical-resistant gloves | Low |
| Prepare for battery change: isolate, wash, inspect | Corrosive splash; damaged connector arcing; acid in the plug port | Key off and remove the key; eye wash or drench shower within seconds of the charger; connector inspected and dry before mating | Face shield, acid-resistant gloves, apron | Medium |
| Disconnect and remove the battery | Manual handling of a very heavy load; crush at the truck side; sling failure | Battery hoist, overhead crane or lift table with a rated battery clamp; no chain hooks; second person guiding the lift | Acid-resistant gloves, face shield | Medium |
| Install and connect the charged battery | Crush at the truck side; arcing on connection; dropped battery | Guided lift with the handler clear of the drop zone; connector seated fully before the truck is keyed on; post-change voltage and water-level check | Acid-resistant gloves, face shield | Medium |
At the charger, hydrogen builds in any space too small or too poorly ventilated. Treat the charging bay as a monitored area rather than a storage area, and keep the ignition sources out of it entirely.
6. Production Line Changeover and Cleaning
Line clearance is where the small injuries come from, and they come from a specific pattern: the crew takes guards off, the cell gets quiet for twenty minutes, attention moves to the format, and the machine is re-energized with something different. Every control in this example exists to make the quiet period either shorter or impossible.
The line clearance step is also the best natural place to use poka yoke examples in manufacturing, since a fixture that cannot be fitted the wrong way solves the changeover problem before anyone has to remember a rule.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan the changeover and gather tools, parts and cleaning supplies | Wrong tools and spare parts for another line; chemicals gathered without their safety data sheet | Changeover kit staged at the cell before the line stops; every chemical has its safety data sheet on hand, which is also worth knowing if you want how to interpret a material safety data sheet | Cut-resistant gloves | Low |
| Stop production and isolate the line | Guards removed before the line is fully isolated; residual product under pressure or in a heated section | Isolation completed and verified at each point before any guard comes off; lockout used where adjustment happens inside the danger zone | Safety glasses | Low |
| Remove guards and clear residual material | Pinch and crush with the guard off; hot runners and product still in the barrel; sharp edges on removed sheet metal | Two-person rule for guard removal on heavy guards; documented cool-down; removed guards racked, never leaned in a walkway | Cut-resistant gloves, safety glasses | Medium |
| Clean the cell with the approved method | Chemical splash and vapour; slips from a wet floor; compressed air blowing residue into eyes and across the cell | Closed-transfer or metered dispensing, no open drums; wet-floor signage and scheduled squeegee; no compressed air for residue blowdown | Chemical-resistant gloves, face shield, goggles | Medium |
| Change fixtures, tooling and changeover tooling | Wrong fixture set; tool inventory that drifts; pinch at fixture rails | Fixture identification checked against the work order; changeover tools on a counted board with a signed reconciliation at the end | Cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Refit guards and verify before energizing | Startup with a guard loose, a screw missing or an interlock not reconnected | Guard restoration checklist with a second-person check; interlock function confirmed on a live test; any missing fastener is a stop | Safety glasses | Low |
| Restart at reduced rate, then run up | First-off product fault that prompts someone to reach into the running machine | Reduced-rate first run with the operator stationed at the stop; no reach-in during automatic cycles | Safety glasses | Medium |
7. Machine Guard Removal for Maintenance
Maintenance runs the plant, so it understands why a guard comes off. That same understanding is why maintenance is where isolation gets treated as optional. This example is the most tightly controlled of the ten, and it should be the one your maintenance crew reads first.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plan the job and identify every energy source | Missed source, typically a pneumatic accumulator or a spring-loaded mechanism | Energy source list completed at the machine before any tool comes out; five-point check covering electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, gravity and thermal | None | Low |
| Notify affected operators and shut down | Another crew restarting the machine mid-task | Machine tagged with a personal lockout device carrying the name and shift of the person who applied it; shift handover includes the lock | None | Low |
| Apply lockout/tagout and verify zero energy | Isolating the wrong disconnect; an unverified isolation that fails on the first try | Try-start verification and a control-function test on every energy source before work begins; the person holding the lock performs the test | None | Low |
| Bleed, block and restrain | Stored pressure, gravity or suspended load releasing into the work zone | Accumulator bled and physically blocked; hydraulic cylinders blocked; suspended loads on rated mechanical restraints, never on the actuator alone | None | Low |
| Remove the guard | Sharp sheet-metal edges; heavy guard falling; tool dropped into moving machinery on the far side | Cut-resistant gloves; two-person lift for heavy guards; tools tethered or inventoried so nothing can end up behind the guard | Cut-resistant gloves, safety glasses | Medium |
| Perform the maintenance work | Springs and stored mechanical energy, sharp burrs, hot components, dust from cleaning | Springs handled with a rated tool and restrained before removal; components cooled and confirmed cool before hand contact; local extraction for generated dust | Cut-resistant gloves, goggles, respirator where dust is generated | Medium |
| Refit the guard, clear tools and restore the machine | Guard refitted incomplete; tools or fasteners left inside; restart before the guard is confirmed | Tool and fastener count reconciled against the pre-job inventory; guard restoration checklist signed by a second person; locks removed by the person who applied them | Cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
One rule makes this work in practice: the person who applied the lock removes the lock. Nobody else, for any reason, including a supervisor who is in a hurry.
8. Compressed-Air System Maintenance
Compressed air is the awkward one, because there is frequently no electrical lockout point to attach to. The energy is in the receiver, and it stays there until somebody opens a valve. A job safety analysis for this work has to build the isolation by hand, and the verification step is the whole safety case.
Verifying zero energy when there is no lockout point
Bleeding air until the gauge reads zero is not verification. A gauge can read zero because the downstream valve has closed, not because the receiver is empty. Verify at the point of work: bleed the receiver through a rated bleed valve, then open the downstream isolation and confirm there is no pressure at the work face. If a hose remains connected to a live source, that is the definition of a whip hazard, and the hose comes off before anything else happens.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify the system, the receiver and every isolation point | Working on the wrong system or an unlabelled valve | System diagram at the machine; every valve and receiver labelled; confirm which users are fed before anything is shut | None | Low |
| Shut down and shut off the supply | Supply left live from a second source or a bypass | Supply locked off at the disconnect; bypasses and secondary feeds verified closed and tagged | None | Low |
| Bleed and block the line | Residual pressure at the work point; pressure release from an unexpected direction | Receiver bled through a rated bleed valve; downstream valve closed and blanked or chained; a bleed vented away from people | Safety glasses | Medium |
| Verify zero pressure at the work point | Working on stored energy because a gauge read wrong or a valve closed under the test | Pressure confirmed at the point of work after opening the isolation; a gauge at the receiver reading zero is not verification on its own | Safety glasses | Low |
| Disconnect hoses and fittings | Hose whip from trapped pressure; hand injury from a loosening fitting | All hoses disconnected and depressurized before a fitting is touched; fittings cracked free slowly with a wrench and a strap; rated fittings only | Safety glasses, cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Work on or near electrical equipment | Stray voltage and stored electrical charge in parallel with the pneumatic work | Electrical isolation applied and verified with a tester; pneumatic and electrical isolation recorded as separate steps on the same form | Tested insulated tools | Low |
| Leak testing and return to service | Noise exposure; a hose reconnected before the fitting is tight; a high-pressure air jet at a loose connection | Leak detection with soap solution before the system is pressurized; all personnel clear before repressurizing; slow pressurization from a remote point; pressure-rated equipment for the job | Hearing protection, safety glasses, face shield for pressurization | Medium |
9. Receiving and Inspecting Plastic Resin Drums
Receiving is where the job safety analysis has the least information and the most consequence. The drum arrives before anyone knows what is inside it, whether the label matches the purchase order, or whether the container is sound. The controls here are about sequence: secure the drum, identify the contents, then touch it.
Reading the drum label before you touch the drum
Read the label first and write what you find in the job step column, not in a comment. Product name, lot number, shipping date, net weight and any handling symbol belong in the record because they connect the JSA step to the correct safety data sheet and the correct lot. A drum with a damaged or unreadable label is a quarantine item, not a job to be finished on time.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position the trailer at the dock and stage the drum | Drum rolling off a dock edge; vehicle and pedestrian conflict in the dock area | Trailer chocked, dock restraint engaged, draperies in place; a spotter for reverse-in; no pedestrians in the staging area while the drum is moving | Safety shoes, high-visibility vest | Medium |
| Inspect the drum exterior | Corrosion, a bulging sidewall, a leaking closure, a damaged rim; residue that indicates a leak | Drum inspection recorded before handling; any leak, bulge or corrosion routes to a spill response, not to the forklift queue | Cut-resistant gloves, safety glasses | Medium |
| Move the drum to storage with the forklift or drum handler | Crush at the fork entry; drop from height; damaged clamps on a drum handler | Only the correct attachment model for the drum, inspected before use; forks fully seated and mast travel kept low; no one within the drop zone | Safety shoes, cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Identify the contents against the label and the paperwork | Unknown contents being sampled or opened; mismatched material reaching production | Label compared to the purchase order and the safety data sheet on file; any mismatch held in quarantine until the supplier confirms | None | Low |
| Sample the material if required | Dust and fume inhalation; contamination of the sample; a hot sample from a hot material | Sampling in a ventilated or designated area; dust control in place; dedicated sampling tools kept clean and stored away from process equipment | Safety glasses, gloves matched to the material, respirator where dust is generated | Medium |
| Manage a damaged or leaking drum | Acid or resin contact with skin and eyes; contaminated runoff into the drain | Spill kit staged at the sampling and receiving points; containment where the drum sits; eyewash access confirmed before any transfer | Chemical-resistant gloves, face shield, apron | Medium |
10. Manual Assembly or Small-Parts Kitting Station
Kitting and small-parts assembly rarely appear on a hazard register because the injuries are slow and nobody reports them as events. Over a quarter, the same shoulder, the same wrist and the same neck absorb the whole cost, and it shows up as an ergonomic claim rather than an incident report. This is the example where engineering controls do most of the work and admin instructions do the least.
| Job step | Hazard | Control measure | PPE | Residual risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Set up the station and check the work surface height | Fixed bench height matched to nobody; awkward reach over the tote wall | Sit-stand bench set individually at the start of shift; parts and bins delivered in tote-wall height rather than floor level | None | Low |
| Load line-side inventory into the station | Heavy totes lifted from the floor; overfilled bins reached into repeatedly | Tote stands matched to the material; no bin above shoulder or below knee height; smaller refill quantities so heavy lifting is not required | Cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Feed and orient small components | Repetitive finger and wrist motion; a static posture held for the whole shift | Fixed-orientation feeder trays so parts arrive in the same position each time; job rotation between kitting, inspection and labelling; micro-breaks scheduled, not requested | None | Medium |
| Assemble with the component | Sharp stamped edges and burrs; pinch from an adjacent press or conveyor | Cut-resistant gloves where the material is steel; burr-removed or deburred parts requested from the supplier; fixed-tool control with no loose knives on the bench | Cut-resistant gloves | Medium |
| Handle small parts in bins and bags | Small-part ingestion or eye entry; cut hands lifting a bag of hardware | No loose parts on the bench; cut-resistant glove cuff; small parts kept in closed containers at the station | Cut-resistant gloves, safety glasses for the handling end | Medium |
| Work at the adjacent conveyor or press | Pinch and crush at the transfer point; noise from the line | Fixed and interlocked guards at the transfer; no bypass for throughput; hearing protection assessed for the cell | Safety glasses, hearing protection where assessed | Medium |
| End of shift: clear, clean, close out | Twisting to reach low bins; rushed cleanup near moving equipment | Waste and returns bins at standing height; equipment stopped and isolated before any cleaning of the cell interior | Cut-resistant gloves | Low |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a job safety analysis and what is it used for?
A job safety analysis (JSA), also called a job hazard analysis (JHA) or task hazard analysis (THA), breaks a specific job into sequential steps, identifies the hazards at each step, and documents the preventive control measures and PPE required before the work begins. Its purpose is to find hazards before work starts rather than after an incident, and to give every shift one consistent safe method for a task.
What is the difference between a JSA and an SOP?
An SOP tells a worker how to do the job correctly, including quality and process requirements. A JSA asks what can go wrong at each step and what controls stop it, so it is shorter and hazard-specific rather than process-complete. Many sites run both: the SOP describes the work, the JSA describes the safety steps for the same task.
How many steps should a job safety analysis have?
Five to ten steps is the working range. Fewer than five tends to bundle distinct tasks into one row and hide hazards inside the bundle. More than ten or fifteen becomes unusable on the floor, because the form stops matching how the job is actually done. Each step should describe what is being done, not how safety is being managed, and every step needs a control.
Who fills out and signs a job safety analysis?
The crew that performs the task should write or at least review it, with a supervisor or safety lead facilitating and finalizing it. Signature is normally both the worker acknowledging the hazards and controls, and the supervisor accepting responsibility for resourcing them. The completed form is kept on the job site or in the task file, not in a drawer at head office.
What are the most common mistakes in a JSA?
The recurring mistakes are: writing the job too broadly instead of task-specific, using vague hazards like be careful, controlling almost entirely with PPE, listing controls nobody can actually implement on the floor, writing the form without the crew, burying hazards in 15-plus step forms, and never reviewing it after a change or a near miss.
When should a JSA be reviewed or rewritten?
Review it after any change to the process, equipment, tooling, material or layout, after a near miss or incident on that task, when a new crew member runs the job for the first time, and on a fixed cycle if nothing has changed. Stale forms are the common problem: they still reference equipment the line retired two years ago, and workers learn to ignore the whole document.
How to Turn a Job Safety Analysis Example into Your Own
Pick the task on your line that hurts the most, or the one that changes most often, and go and watch somebody do it. Not a description of it, not the SOP, the actual work at the actual speed. Then sit down with the two or three people who ran it this week and fill in the columns together.
Copy the shape, not the content. Take the number of steps from the example that sits closest to your task, write your own hazard descriptions in plain language a new operator would understand, and work up the controls from the top of the hierarchy of controls before you reach for PPE. Assign each control to a named person, rate the residual risk, then walk the crew through it at the machine and get it signed.
Then give it a review trigger. New machine, new tooling, new material, new crew member, near miss, or a date you actually keep. A form that never gets revisited is worse than no form, because it teaches the crew that paperwork is a performance of compliance rather than a tool. As 2026 moves along and the plant changes around it, that review trigger is what keeps ten of these working.
Where a hazard investigation is already underway, root cause analysis methods for manufacturing defects are worth pairing with a JSA: the JSA finds the exposure, the root cause work finds out why the exposure was there.