How Do You Do a Job Hazard Analysis?

By Wyatt Cooper · Published October 22, 2026 · 6 min read

Key takeaways

A job hazard analysis breaks one task into its steps, names what can go wrong at each step, and sets a control for each hazard before the work starts.
Start with the crew who do the work, the task's injury and near-miss history, and the tasks that could cause a severe injury even if none has happened yet.
Pick controls in OSHA's order of effectiveness: engineering controls first, then administrative controls, then personal protective equipment.
Where a standard sets the control, as the silica rule's Table 1 does for saw cutting, write the standard's control into the analysis as the standard states it.

Do a job hazard analysis by watching the crew do the task and writing it down as a few basic steps. For each step, ask what can go wrong, how bad it would be and how likely it is, then set controls in order: engineering controls first, then administrative controls, then protective equipment. Write in any OSHA standard that applies, review it with the crew, and revise it after an injury or a close call.

What a job hazard analysis is

OSHA's booklet (Job Hazard Analysis, OSHA 3071) defines it as "a technique that focuses on job tasks as a way to identify hazards before they occur. It focuses on the relationship between the worker, the task, the tools, and the work environment." It is one task at a time. A site-specific safety plan covers the whole job; the analysis covers one thing a crew does, such as setting a trench box, hanging duct or saw-cutting a slab.

OSHA says priority should go to the jobs with the highest injury or illness rates; jobs that could cause severe or disabling injuries, even with no history of accidents; jobs where one simple human error could lead to a severe accident; jobs that are new or have changed; and jobs complex enough to need written instructions.

How to do one, step by step

Involve the crew. They know the task best, and they follow controls they helped choose.
Review the history: injuries, damage and near misses on this task, here or on past jobs.
Do a preliminary review with the crew. Fix anything that is an immediate danger now, without waiting for the written analysis.
List and rank the hazardous tasks, most likely and most severe first, and analyze those first.
Watch the task and write its basic steps in order: enough to describe each action, not so many that it gets long.
For each step ask OSHA's questions: what can go wrong, what are the consequences, how could it arise, what else contributes, and how likely is it.
Set controls for each hazard, best first, and write in any OSHA standard that applies to the step.
Review the finished analysis with the crew before work starts, and again after an injury, a close call or a change to the task.

OSHA 3071's order of hazard controls, most effective first, with construction examples
Control	What OSHA includes	Construction example
1. Engineering	Eliminating or substituting the hazard, enclosing it, isolating it with guards or interlocks, removing it with ventilation	A water-fed saw; an enclosed cab on an excavator; a guardrail
2. Administrative	Written procedures, work permits, safe work practices, exposure time limits, alarms and signs, a buddy system, training	Restricting access to the cut area; a hot-work permit; a spotter
3. Personal protective equipment	Respirators, hearing protection, protective clothing, safety glasses, hard hats, used when the controls above aren't feasible or aren't enough	A respirator with an assigned protection factor of 10; cut-resistant gloves

A worked example: saw-cutting a slab for underground plumbing

Job hazard analysis — slab trench for new sanitary line

Job location: Tenant fit-out, ground floor of an existing two-story building, rooms 104–108
Analyst and date: Plumbing foreman with the two-person cutting crew, before mobilizing
Task description: Saw-cut and remove a 2-foot-wide strip of 5-inch slab on grade, 60 feet long, indoors, with a walk-behind saw and a jackhammer
Applicable standard: 29 CFR 1926.1153, Table 1, rows (iv) walk-behind saws and (x) jackhammers

The heading of a job hazard analysis for one fictional plumbing sub's task, set out the way OSHA 3071's sample form is.

The fictional task broken into steps, with each step's hazards and controls in OSHA's order
Step	Hazard	Controls
1. Lay out the cut	Cutting embedded conduit or tendons	Have the slab scanned and marked; confirm with the GC's drawings; electrician verifies any circuit in the path is de-energized
2. Set up the saw	Engine exhaust indoors; dust	Use an electric or otherwise suitable saw for indoor work; connect the integrated water feed; barricade the area and post it
3. Cut the slab	Respirable silica; noise; slurry slips	Table 1 (iv) indoors: water fed continuously to the blade, saw run to the manufacturer's instructions, and a respirator with APF 10 for any duration; indoors, exhaust as needed to minimize visible airborne dust and enough water to minimize visible dust (1926.1153(c)(2)); hearing protection; squeegee slurry as you go
4. Clean up slurry and dust	Silica from dry sweeping	Wet methods or a HEPA-filtered vacuum; no dry sweeping or compressed air where it adds exposure (1926.1153(f))
5. Break out the concrete	Silica; flying chips; back strain lifting pieces	Table 1 (x) indoors: jackhammer with continuous water at the point of impact and APF 10; safety glasses; break pieces small and move them on a cart

Steps 3 and 5 copy the standard's own control for each tool rather than inventing one, because 1926.1153(c) says an employer using Table 1 "shall fully and properly implement the engineering controls, work practices, and respiratory protection specified for the task". Indoors, both tools need the respirator whether the task runs four hours or eight. OSHA's silica rule for construction explains the table row by row.

Step 1 has no OSHA table to copy; it comes from asking what can go wrong. The analysis also feeds the day's toolbox talk and the GC's site-specific safety plan, which asks each sub for its analyses before it starts. More for your trade in the subcontractor's guide.

The bottom line

Watch the task, write its steps, ask what can go wrong at each, and set controls in OSHA's order: engineering, then administrative, then protective equipment. Where a standard names the control, copy it in; then walk the crew through it and revise it after anything goes wrong.

OSHA's general rule is that equipment out of compliance is tagged, locked out or removed from the job (1926.20(b)(3)); an analysis that names the equipment makes that easy to check. Conflo has no dedicated safety tool (JHAs, safety plans) today; subcontractors invited by a GC use it free for bids and billing. Join the waitlist.

Join the waitlist

Sources

Job Hazard Analysis (OSHA 3071, 2002 revised) — Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Read October 22, 2026.
29 CFR 1926.1153, Respirable crystalline silica — eCFR (Office of the Federal Register). Read October 22, 2026.
29 CFR 1926.20, General safety and health provisions — eCFR (Office of the Federal Register). Read October 22, 2026.

Questions

Is a job hazard analysis the same as a job safety analysis?

Yes, the terms are used for the same method; OSHA's own JHA booklet uses both. Whatever your contract calls it, the content is the same: the task's steps, each step's hazards, and the controls.

Does OSHA require a job hazard analysis?

OSHA 3071 is guidance, not a standard, but the standards it points you to are mandatory, and many contracts and site plans require a written analysis for each task before a sub starts.

Who should do the job hazard analysis?

The foreman or supervisor, with the workers who do the task. OSHA says to involve employees in every phase and to get professional help for many or complex processes.

How often should a job hazard analysis be reviewed?

Periodically, and always after an injury or illness on that task, a close call, or a change to the task, tools or site. Train everyone affected when it changes.