June 16, 2026
A Job Safety Assessment (JSA) — also called a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), job briefing, tailboard briefing, or pre-task plan — is a structured way to look at a job before it starts. You break the work into steps, identify the hazards in each step, and decide how to eliminate or control those hazards.
Why the JSA exists
OSHA describes a job hazard analysis as a way to focus on the relationship between the worker, the task, the tools, and the environment. The point isn't paperwork — it's getting the crew to recognize and control hazards while there's still time to do something about them.
What a good JSA includes
- The job, location, date, and crew
- Each task step, in order
- The hazards associated with each step
- The controls, PPE, and procedures that reduce each hazard
- Crew signatures acknowledging the briefing
- Supervisor review and approval
Moving the JSA from paper to phone
A digital JSA keeps the exact same approved content but adds guided completion, required fields, multi-crew digital sign-off, automatic supervisor routing, notifications, and a searchable, exportable record.