What is a daily JHA?
A daily JHA (Job Hazard Analysis) is a task-specific hazard analysis completed at the start of each workday to address the specific conditions, crew, and tasks planned for that day. Unlike a standing JHA — which covers a general task type — a daily JHA reflects real-time site conditions: weather, crew composition, equipment availability, and any changes from yesterday's work.
Daily JHAs are standard practice in US construction, utilities, oil and gas, and many general industry settings. They are the day-of execution document that bridges your safety program from policy to field reality.
Is a daily JHA required by OSHA?
OSHA does not have a single regulation specifically requiring "daily JHAs" for all employers. However, daily JHAs are effectively required or strongly indicated by several OSHA standards and industry best practices:
- OSHA 1926.21 (Construction Safety) — requires employers to instruct employees on hazard recognition and avoidance before work begins. A daily JHA is the most common way to document this instruction.
- Permit-required confined space (1910.146) — requires an entry permit that functions similarly to a daily JHA for confined space work.
- OSHA General Duty Clause (Section 5(a)(1)) — requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards. Daily JHAs demonstrate ongoing hazard identification efforts.
Beyond direct OSHA requirements, most general contractors, prime contractors, and major clients in construction and utilities require subcontractors to complete and submit daily JHAs as a condition of site access. Failure to produce a signed daily JHA can result in removal from the site.
Who should complete the daily JHA?
The daily JHA is typically completed by the foreman or supervisor responsible for the crew and the work area. However, the most effective daily JHAs involve the crew — workers identify site-specific hazards they notice when arriving on site, and their input makes the document more accurate and more effective.
All workers who will be performing the day's work should review and sign the daily JHA before work begins. This serves as documented safety training for the specific hazards of the day.
What should a daily JHA include?
A complete daily JHA should document:
- Job and location details — job name, location, date, supervisor name, and crew members
- Task description — what specific work will be performed today
- Job steps and associated hazards — broken down by task step, identifying the specific hazards at each step
- Controls for each hazard — the specific safe work practices, engineering controls, and PPE required
- PPE requirements — the specific PPE required for today's work
- Emergency information — emergency contact, nearest hospital, first aid location, and assembly point
- Crew signatures — signed and dated by each worker before work begins
When should the daily JHA be completed?
The daily JHA should be completed before work begins — not after the crew has already started the day's first task. Best practice is to complete the JHA while the crew gathers at the truck or in the site trailer, review it as a group, address any questions or concerns, and collect signatures before moving to the work area.
A daily JHA completed retrospectively after an incident has occurred provides little protection. The document's value — as a safety briefing and as a legal record — depends on it being completed and signed before the work starts.
How long should a daily JHA take?
A well-structured daily JHA should take 5–15 minutes to complete, review, and sign off. If it takes much longer, the format is probably too complex for daily use. If it takes less than 3 minutes, it may not be capturing the day's specific hazards accurately.
Assessment First's Daily JHA wizard is built for this time window — the six-step flow is designed for a working foreman to complete on a phone before the crew arrives, with quick hazard chip selection and crew signing via mobile link.
Retaining daily JHA records
OSHA generally requires employers to retain safety-related documents for the duration of employment plus one year, or three years for OSHA 300 log records. For daily JHAs, best practice is to retain records for at least 3 years — longer if a recorded hazard was the subject of an incident investigation.
Assessment First stores every daily JHA permanently in your secure document library, searchable by date, job, or crew member.