Question

What do you believe is the most versatile hazard assessment tool for use in the safety profession? Why?

Answer 1

ANSWER:

A hazard is a danger or risk that has a potential to cause harm. The harm can be caused to personnel, machinery, infrastructure, or the environment. Due to these reasons, a hazard assessment is mandatory in high-risk work environments such as petroleum refineries, LPG/LNG plants, cement plants, mines, offshore drill sites, and both minor and major construction sites. The personnel assigned the responsibility of ensuring safety are called generally called Safety Officers. Amongst the tools they have, the Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is one of the most common and versatile.

A JSA is a document that contains information like the date, type of job, type of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be worn, sequence of job steps, potential hazards, and recommended action or procedure. It is generally prepared on a daily basis. Any change in the job results in an immediate change in the JSA. It breaks down the job into parts and identifies the hazards associated with each part. It is simple to understand and prepare, and is not time consuming. The information mentioned on the document is not cluttered and does not utilize complicated jargon. This evidently makes it easy for people to read the document, including the illiterate ones. Due to these reasons, this document can be used at any work site.