Job Safety Analysis (JSA) Template
A job safety analysis (JSA), also called a job hazard analysis or task risk assessment, breaks one job into its steps, lists what could go wrong at each step and the controls that stop it, and has the crew sign that they understand. It is done before the job starts, with the people who will do it.
Before a non-routine or high-risk job, before a job done for the first time on this site, and whenever the conditions, the crew or the method change. A routine task with a current written procedure does not need a new one each time.
Legal basis checked 26 October 2026
What is in the template
Job details
- Equipment, tools and substances used
- Permits and isolations needed
- Procedure or method statement referred to
- Emergency arrangements (rescue, first aid, assembly point)
Steps, hazards and controls
Columns: Step · What could go wrong (hazard) · Risk before controls · Controls · Risk after controls · Responsible · 10 rows per page
One row per step, in the order the work is done. Rate the risk on your site's matrix. Choose controls in this order: eliminate the hazard, control it at the source, minimise it, then PPE. If the risk after controls is still high, stop and escalate before the job starts.
PPE and barricading
- PPE required for this job
- Barricading, signage and exclusion zones
Crew sign-on
Columns: Name · Company · I understand the steps, hazards and controls (signature) · Date · 8 rows per page
Anyone on the crew may stop the job if conditions change or a control fails. Record what changed and review the JSA before restarting.
Review
- Reviewed by (supervisor): signature and time
- Conditions changed during the job, and what was done
How to fill it in
- 1Walk the job site with the crew before you write: the people doing the job know where it goes wrong.
- 2Break the job into its main steps in order, usually no more than ten.
- 3For each step, write what could go wrong and rate it, then the controls that bring the risk down and who makes sure they are in place.
- 4Check the permits, isolations and emergency arrangements the job needs before anyone starts.
- 5Have every crew member sign on, and review the JSA if the conditions, the crew or the method change.
A general template, not legal advice. Check it against the Act, the regulations and the codes of practice that apply to your site, and against your own safety management system. A JSA is one way of doing the risk assessment the law requires before work starts. Regulation 9(1) of the Construction Regulations, 2014 requires a risk assessment with hazard identification, an evaluation, controls and safe work procedures, done by a competent person appointed in writing. On a mine, section 11(1) to (4) of the Mine Health and Safety Act, 29 of 1996 requires hazards to be identified, risks assessed and controls chosen in the order set by section 11(2).
Legal basis checked on against: Construction Regulations, 2014 (GN R84 of 7 February 2014), regulation 9(1); Mine Health and Safety Act, 29 of 1996, section 11(1) to (4).
Convert this template into a digital form
Run it on an Android phone with no signal, attach photos as evidence, and every failed item raises an issue with an owner and a due date.
The same record in Inspecable
On paper the register is only as current as the last person who updated it. In Inspecable the same record keeps going:
- The pre-task check runs as a checklist on the Android app with photo and signature per step, offline, and a failed item raises a tracked issue on the spot.
- A control the crew could not put in place becomes a corrective action with an owner and a due date; closure is refused without a method, evidence and a signature.
- Where the job needs a permit, it cannot go active until every signatory has signed and every isolation is verified by a second person (web).
Questions
What is the difference between a JSA and a risk assessment?
A JSA is a task-level risk assessment: one job, broken into steps, done just before the work with the crew. A baseline risk assessment covers the whole site or operation and is reviewed periodically. Most sites need both: the baseline sets the controls, the JSA applies them to the day's job.
Who should complete a JSA?
The supervisor leads it with the crew who will do the job, because they know the steps and where they go wrong. On a construction site the risk assessment must be done by a competent person appointed in writing under regulation 9(1) of the Construction Regulations, 2014.
Is a JSA the same as a JHA?
Yes. Job safety analysis (JSA), job hazard analysis (JHA) and task risk assessment are names for the same thing: listing a job's steps, the hazards at each step and the controls. The name depends on the site or the client.
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