JHA Generator for US Contractors

If you've ever sat down at the end of a long day and tried to write a Job Hazard Analysis from scratch, you already know the problem. The form is simple. The thinking isn't. You have to recall every step of the task, every realistic way someone could get hurt, every control that actually works on the ground, and the OSHA standard that backs it up. Then you have to write it in plain enough language that the crew actually reads it at the morning huddle.

Riskora is a structured JHA builder for US construction and general industry. You pick the task, the platform pulls in a relevant hazard library, and you edit. No blank page. No copy-pasting from a JHA your foreman wrote in 2019 for a different job site.

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What a JHA is, in OSHA terms

A Job Hazard Analysis (sometimes called a Job Safety Analysis, or JSA) is a documented walk-through of a task that breaks the work into steps, identifies the hazards in each step, and specifies the controls. OSHA's own guidance on JHAs lives in OSHA Publication 3071. It isn't a single rule in 29 CFR — it's how you demonstrate compliance with the General Duty Clause and most of the construction standards in 29 CFR 1926.

If you work in general industry, the same logic applies under 29 CFR 1910. The format barely changes. The standards you cite do.

Why most JHAs fail an audit

OSHA inspectors and GC safety teams see the same patterns over and over:

• Generic hazard lists. "Slips, trips, falls" pasted into every JHA regardless of what the crew is actually doing.
• No step breakdown. The task is described as one paragraph instead of a sequence. You can't analyze a hazard you haven't separated from the next one.
• PPE as the only control. Hard hat and gloves listed for everything, with no engineering or administrative controls above them in the hierarchy.
• No sign-off. No supervisor name, no date, no crew acknowledgment. From a documentation standpoint, the JHA may as well not exist.
• Stale review dates. The standard expectation is that a JHA gets reviewed when conditions change, after an incident, or annually at minimum.

How the Riskora JHA generator works

You start by selecting your country (United States) and state. State selection matters because 22 states plus Puerto Rico run their own OSHA-approved State Plans — Cal/OSHA, MIOSHA, Oregon OSHA, Washington DOSH, and others. Several of these have stricter standards than federal. For California, the platform pulls in Title 8 CCR references; for federal jurisdictions, it stays with 29 CFR.

From there:

1. Pick the task type (excavation, electrical, roofing, scaffolding, hot work, confined space, etc.)
2. The hazard library loads — pre-mapped to the relevant OSHA subparts
3. You edit the steps, hazards, and controls to match the actual job site
4. PPE requirements auto-populate based on hazards, citing ANSI standards where they apply
5. You add the crew, the supervisor, the date, and download to PDF

The point isn't to take human judgment out of the process. The point is to stop you starting from a blank page every single morning.

Tasks the generator covers out of the box

• Excavation and trenching (29 CFR 1926 Subpart P)
• Fall protection — leading edge, residential, steel erection (Subpart M)
• Scaffolding — supported and suspended (Subpart L)
• Electrical — energized work, lockout/tagout (Subpart K, 1910.147)
• Confined space entry (1910.146 / 1926 Subpart AA)
• Hot work — welding, cutting, grinding (Subpart J)
• Cranes and rigging (Subpart CC)
• Demolition (Subpart T)
• HazCom and chemical exposure (1910.1200)
• Silica exposure (1926.1153)

Who this is for

General contractors who need to roll up subcontractor JHAs into a single project safety binder. Subs who get tired of being asked for "the JHA for tomorrow's pour" at 7pm. Safety managers responsible for fifty crews across multiple states. Owner-operators who need something defensible without paying a consultant $400 to write one document. The common thread is people who'd rather spend their evening with their family than rewriting the same form in Word.

JHA vs. JSA vs. AHA — the terminology

JHA (Job Hazard Analysis) is OSHA's preferred term. JSA (Job Safety Analysis) is the older industry term — they describe the same document. AHA (Activity Hazard Analysis) is what the US Army Corps of Engineers requires under EM 385-1-1, and it includes a few extra fields (training, inspection requirements). Riskora outputs in JHA format by default and supports JSA labeling for sites that prefer it.

For the longer version, see our breakdown of JHA vs. JSA and the what is a JHA guide.

What it costs

There's a free account with no card required — build your first JHA in minutes. Paid plans start at the equivalent of about $35/month for solo operators. Team and business plans cover crews, multi-project setups, and template libraries.

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One more thing

Riskora is an assistive tool. Every JHA the platform produces still needs review by a competent person on your crew before it's used in the field. The hazard libraries are a starting point informed by OSHA standards and consensus practice — they aren't a substitute for the person who actually knows what's happening on your job site today.

That's true of every JHA generator on the market. We just say it out loud.