Frequently Asked Questions
Click on  beside each question for more information.
1. About JHAM
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Why is this required? |
| Filling out JHAMs and thinking carefully about what we do and the
risks involved
is a good safety and environmental practice. It involves personnel doing work and
their supervisors to examine their jobs carefully. We are also contractually
(DOE) required to document that job hazard analyses have been performed,
and JHAMs fulfill this requirement. |
|
Do I have to do a JHAM? (Who is required to do these?) |
Details for who should do what are laid out in the
Training Needs Assessment Procedure [pdf]. Please see that
document for exact information for both JHAMs and other needs.
A quick summary without the details is:
- Employees:
JHAMs must be done by all SLAC employees and their supervisors.
(This includes Stanford, summer science students, and emeritus
staff.)
- Users and similar non-employees:
A JHAM process (doesn't have to be the actual form, but a
process following the JHAM system) must be done.
- Other non-employees (such as construction subcontractors)
JHAMs are not required. However, either a site-specific
safety plan (SSSP) or a pre-work hazard analysis (PWHA), which
identifies work hazards must be done.
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|
How do we know that the DOE will accept this level of detail and paperwork? |
| We have DOE concurrence
that JHAMs will fulfill our contractual requirement to document job
hazard analyses. |
|
Will we be required to complete JHAMs and all of the other
programs required by the site, my directorate, or my department? |
|
Different programs have different requirements for safety analysis. Ideally,
management should work on combining the levels of requirements so
that the JHAMs and AHAs will incorporate or supersede some existing safety programs.
If you feel that the amount of safety paperwork for a job you are
doing is excessive and repeating itself, please discuss the issue
with your supervisor, your
Safety Coordinator, or the
ES&H Service Desk. |
|
How will the JHAM make us safer? |
| We often need to refresh and optimize
our safety approaches to help avoid complacency. The JHAM program
supports thinking about the work and potential hazards before doing
it and encourages hazard communications between supervisors and workers.
|
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How will the JHAM help protect the environment? |
|
Similar to safety, in our approach to protecting the environment and
making sure it is sustainable, we need to periodically take a fresh
look at what we're doing in our daily activities. The JHAM program
supports thinking about the work and potential hazards before doing
it and encourages hazard communications between supervisors and workers.
|
|
Do JHAMs require paperwork sent to ES&H? |
| JHAMs
do not need to go to ES&H. However some departments are keeping
their own records. Please talk to your supervisor about how
your department handles JHAM records. |
2. Getting It Done
|
Who is responsible for making sure JHAMs are completed? |
| The employee
and their supervisor are jointly responsible for making sure that a JHAM is completed for their routine and non-routine work. |
|
Who determines the work that is to be included in a JHAM? |
| It is determined jointly between the supervisor and
employee(s). The meetings to discuss JHAMs should also
evaluate how much should go into it. |
|
What about emergencies? Do we stop everything and conduct a non-routine JHAM?
|
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How do JHAMs tie into the SLAC Training Assessment (STA) process? |
| JHAM complements the
STA process by evaluating and documenting the work (hazards) to determine the training required
or recommended to mitigate the hazards. Completion of JHAMs
should greatly help in entering training required information into
the STA database.
Depending on how complete an individual's JHAMs are, they may not
cover the full range of training needed for a job, so attention to
the STA process should still be evaluated. Please see the
STA webpages
for more information.
|
|
How much effort is required to conduct a routine JHAM? |
Initially, JHAMs should take about 30-60 minutes. In some cases you can conduct a routine JHAM session for a class of employee (e.g., welders, technicians)
and then review them quicker with individuals for how it applies to them.
Once the initial JHAM has been completed, subsequent annual reviews
should take far less effort. Changes will only be required if job tasks and/or hazards change. |
3. Effectiveness/Culture
|
What about SLAC's "get it done" culture? Most risk-taking occurs around time-critical work. |
No employee should ever take a risk not mitigated by suitable control and their expertise and judgment. Shortcuts are not worth an injury or accident.
If you feel there is pressure to take risks around a time-critical
project, please discuss the issue with your supervisor, your
Safety Coordinator, or the
ES&H Service Desk. |
|
Will this encourage people to wear required PPE and improve
enforcing existing policies? |
|
JHAMs should raise awareness of the need to use PPE by calling out
the hazards they mitigate. Enforcement is through existing policies. Contact your
supervisor, your
Safety Coordinator, or the
ES&H Service Desk if you feel compliance in your workplace is an issue. |
4. Liability/Supervisor Responsibility
|
If a supervisor writes something down, they may not capture all the
conceivable scenarios where accidents may occur. If there is an
accident, will the supervisor be held liable for what they omitted? |
| Use
best practice: there is a difference between omissions vs. failure
to do the process. If you do your job within expectations, and the
JHAMs shows a reasonable effort to their intention, then SLAC
indemnifies you (you will not be held legally responsible).
If you would like a review of your JHAM or the process, please
contact the
ES&H Service Desk and somebody from ES&H will work with you on it.
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|
Our people deal with many activities. How do we capture them all on the routine JHAM? |
| For
many activities on a routine JHAM, we recommend using a graded approach.
The amount of detail should reflect the risk involved and the experience and competencies of the workers. Much of what a person does is covered in their job description, permits, or established procedures, all of which serve as the basis of the routine JHAM. There is no need to "re-document" what has been covered – just refer to it in the JHAM.
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Some supervisors will use three words to do a JHAM, others
will use paragraphs. Is there a site-wide requirement on what is appropriate? |
A JHAM
does not require prescriptive formats. Many examples have been developed and provided at Create a JHAM. Informal review by local safety officers may help ensure JHAMs are appropriate and useful. Routine JHAMS may be developed for work groups (e.g. certain types of technicians or mechanics).
No one size fits all. It is a graded approach, dependent on the
hazard, the work, and the comfort level of the staff and supervisor. |
5. Administrative
|
Where are JHAMs stored after being completed? |
| Copies of completed and signed routine JHAMs are kept by the supervisor and employee. Non-routine JHAMs are posted at the work site and expire when the work is completed. |
|
Where are the forms and procedures |
| Forms and instructions are
available on the web under 'Create a JHAM'. |
|
My JHAM doesn't match the current template - do I have to change it? |
|
The JHAM template has changed a couple of times by user requests to make it easier to fill out. However,
it is the JHAM process that's required, not a specific template. You are perfectly fine using an older template
if it still meets your needs. Or you can upgrade to the latest template if you like. Either way is fine. |
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Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA