Short answer
A formal hazard assessment is a big-picture look at the hazards in each job, done ahead of time. A field-level hazard assessment is a short, pre-task check at the worksite that catches the conditions that change day to day. You need both.
If you are building a safety program or getting ready for a COR audit, both terms come up constantly and they get used as if they mean the same thing. They do not. A formal hazard assessment and a field-level hazard assessment are different documents, done by different people at different times, and you need both.
The short answer
A formal hazard assessment is the company-wide baseline. It breaks your work into jobs and tasks, identifies the hazards in each, and sets out the controls — done ahead of time, away from any particular worksite. A field-level hazard assessment (FLHA), sometimes called a field-level risk assessment, is a short pre-task check the crew completes at the worksite before work begins.
Alberta's Hazard Assessment and Control handbook for employers and workers is organized that way. It walks through the formal hazard assessment in detail and puts the site-specific assessment, the one done at the worksite on the day, in an appendix.
What a formal hazard assessment covers
In Alberta's handbook, the formal process runs eight steps:
- Figure out what people do in the organization.
- List all work tasks or activities for each job.
- Identify the health and safety hazards related to each task.
- Find ways to eliminate or control the hazards.
- Implement the selected controls.
- Communicate the hazards and follow the controls.
- Monitor the controls for their effectiveness.
- Review and revise the assessments.
The result is a written assessment for each job and task, showing the hazards and the methods used to eliminate or control them. Nothing on it is tied to a particular site or day, and it is the document your procedures, orientations and supervisor expectations should be built from. A task-level version of this work is often called a job hazard analysis. That foundation is what OHS program development organizes.
What a field-level hazard assessment covers
An FLHA happens at the worksite, before work starts, and the supervisor and crew do it together. It looks at five things:
- People on shift — the right people for the work, with enough experience, training and supervision, and rested enough to work safely
- Equipment — is it in safe operating condition?
- Materials — are they approved for the job according to the manufacturer or engineer?
- Environment — does the weather or temperature change how the work can be done safely?
- Procedures — do they match the conditions of the day?
The crew then walks through the job step by step, identifies possible hazards, assesses risk against conditions on the day, and either puts controls in place or reschedules the work until controls are ready. The observations, risk assessment and chosen controls are documented. Crews are expected to stop and think before they start.
How the two differ
| Formal hazard assessment | Field-level hazard assessment | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Ahead of time, on a review schedule | Before the task, each shift or when conditions change |
| Where | In the office | At the worksite |
| Who | People who know the jobs, with workers and supervisors involved | The supervisor and the crew doing the work |
| Scope | Every job and task in the organization | Today's task at this site |
| Focus | What could go wrong with this work in general | What is different today |
| Output | Baseline documents behind procedures and training | A record of the day's hazards and controls |
How the two work together
The formal assessment tells you what hazards a task normally carries and what controls should be in place. The FLHA is where the crew checks that plan against the site in front of them and catches what the baseline missed — changed ground, another trade working overhead, equipment that is not in the condition it was last week.
The loop runs both ways. When the same hazard keeps showing up on FLHAs and it is not on the formal assessment, that is a signal to update the baseline. Reviewed over time, field assessments show trends your program needs to address, whether that is a policy change, more training or contractor management.
One piece of context: an Alberta employer who regularly employs 20 or more workers must have a health and safety program, and hazard assessment is one of the legal requirements that belongs in it.
Where employers run into trouble
- FLHAs rushed or filled in at the end of the shift to satisfy the form. Once crews see it as paperwork, hazards get missed.
- No formal assessment behind the FLHA, so the crew has nothing to compare today's conditions against.
- No review loop, so the same hazard turns up on field assessments for months without the baseline changing.
- Supervisors who were never shown how to run the assessment with a crew. Training is what turns the FLHA into a habit instead of a form.
Salient Health & Safety works with Alberta construction and trades employers on exactly this: building the formal hazard assessments that cover every job and task on your list, setting up a field-level process your crews will use, and training supervisors and workers to run it. It is core work in program development, and it is the kind of thing that shows up in a COR audit as either an obvious strength or an obvious gap. If you would rather not build it alone, book a free discovery call and we will walk through what your program needs.
Frequently asked questions
When should a field level hazard assessment (FLHA) be completed?
Before work starts on the task, at the worksite, with the supervisor and crew working through it together. It should be redone when conditions change — a new shift, a different crew, or a change in the site, equipment or weather. Completing it at the end of the shift, or copying yesterday's, defeats the purpose.
What is a field-level hazard assessment in Alberta?
It is the pre-task assessment done at the worksite on the day. Alberta's Hazard Assessment and Control handbook covers it as the site-specific assessment, in an appendix to the formal process. It looks at the people on shift, the equipment, the materials, the environment and the procedures, then documents the hazards, the risk assessment and the controls for that day's work.
What are the two types of hazard assessments?
The formal hazard assessment, which is the company-wide baseline done ahead of time and covering every job and task, and the site-specific or field-level hazard assessment, done at the worksite before work begins. They answer different questions: what hazards this work generally carries, and what is different at this site today.
What is the difference between a JHA and a FLHA?
A job hazard analysis looks at a specific task and is usually done ahead of time, the same way a formal hazard assessment breaks work into jobs and tasks and identifies hazards and controls for each. A field-level hazard assessment is the short check done on site, right before the work, against the conditions of the day. The JHA sets out what to expect, and the FLHA confirms whether that still holds today.