What Is a Job Safety Analysis Template?

A job safety analysis template is a standardized form for breaking down a specific task into individual steps, identifying potential hazards at each step, and outlining control measures to reduce risk. The goal of a job safety analysis (JSA) is to prevent injuries by thinking through the job before it starts.

Why Use a JSA Template?

Doing a JSA helps your team:

• Find hidden risks in routine or non-routine jobs
• Ensure everyone understands their role and responsibilities
• Standardize safety procedures across shifts and teams
• Satisfy OSHA’s general duty requirement to provide a safe workplace
• Reduce incidents, near misses, and costly downtime

Using a template ensures that every analysis follows the same format, which makes it easier to complete, review, and compare analysis results over time.

You can use a job safety analysis template for all sorts of tasks. Some examples include confined space entry, hot work activities, lockout/tagout, and site-specific processes. Don’t forget to fill out your JSA template for any tasks with a history of incidents or near misses. That way, you can eliminate the hazards quickly to prevent more incidents.

What Should a Job Safety Analysis Template Include?

When doing a JSA, this is the information you should document:

• Job name and description
• List of steps in the task and their associated hazards
• Control measures in place at each step
• Mandatory PPE for the task
• Recommendations for improvement
• Sign off

When doing a job safety analysis, make sure to involve people who complete the task regularly. You want to get a full understanding of the hazards and their potential impacts.

Take time to observe someone performing the task, so you can see the hazards in real time. While doing so, it’s a good idea to document what you see within the JSA template so you can reference it later. Our template is a great option if you’re just getting started and don’t have action tracking software to store your JSAs.