Construction Lesson: What is a JHA?

  • Jul 5, 2015

If you’re working with a general contractor or construction manager, you may hear them refer to a “JHA.”

What is a JHA and why is it important?

A JHA is a job hazard analysis. This is also known as a job safety analysis (JSA). Both JHAs and JSAs refer to a technique to identify the dangers of specific tasks in order to reduce the risk of injury to workers.

Why is a JHA important?

Once you know what the hazards are, you can reduce or eliminate them before anyone gets hurt. The JHA can also be used to investigate accidents and to train workers how to do their jobs safely.

A good contractor is focused on safety first. While it takes time to do JHAs, this is time that is very well spent. We recommend workers are involved in the process. Because they do the work, they will often know the best ways to work more safely.