In Transit

When should the process of hazard identification start?

• When the job starts
• When arriving on location to start the job
• When completing the Job Safety Analysis
• When planning the job

Pick any of those choices and you’re missing the time when a lot of people actually do get hurt: “going out to the job” and “coming back from the job.” Aka, “in transit.” 

You can add to that list the times and places that don’t involve being “out on the job.” Getting hurt by hazards found outside the specific assigned happens a lot! The extent to which that is the case in your operation may well be worth proving. 

As to how to test that out, it’s as easy as making a list of the injuries that have happened where you work. Then divide the list in two groups: 

• Injuries occurring while performing a specific assigned task or job. For example, “Adjusting torque wrench, pinched hand between wrench and flange.” 
• Injuries occurring not while performing a specific assigned task. For example, “Tripped and fell while climbing stairway, spraining ankle.”

Likely you’ll see a lot of injuries happening in situations where someone isn’t performing the assigned task.

Understand that, and you will appreciate that “the process of hazard identification never stops.”

Paul Balmert
February 2020