What is an FLHA (Field Level Hazard Assessment)?
An FLHA (Field Level Hazard Assessment) is a short written hazard assessment done by the crew at the work location before work starts each shift or task, and repeated when conditions change. It records the hazards found on site that day and the controls used.
What an FLHA does
An FLHA catches the hazards that only show up on the day: the weather, the ground, other trades, a power line nobody mentioned, a new crew member. It sits alongside the employer's formal hazard assessment, which covers the job or trade in general.
Energy Safety Canada's COR audit protocol draws the same line. A formal hazard assessment is a written process for identifying, assessing and prioritizing task-based hazards. A site-specific hazard assessment, also called field level, is done before work starts at a site and again where conditions change or non-routine work is added, and anything it finds must be eliminated or controlled before work begins or continues.
The legal basis
No province names a document called an FLHA. The FLHA is how employers show they met these duties.
- Alberta OHS Code s.7(1): the employer must assess a work site and identify existing and potential hazards before work begins, or before a new work site is built.
- Alberta s.7(2) and (3): prepare a report of the results and the controls, and record the date the assessment was prepared or revised.
- Alberta s.7(4): repeat it at reasonably practicable intervals, when a new work process is introduced, when a process or operation changes, and before significant additions or alterations to the site.
- Alberta s.8(1): involve affected workers in the hazard assessment and in controlling or eliminating the hazards.
- Alberta s.9: eliminate the hazard, or if that is not reasonably practicable, control it with engineering controls, then administrative controls, then PPE.
- Ontario OHSA s.25(2)(a), (d) and (h): provide information, instruction and supervision, acquaint workers with any hazard in the work, and take every precaution reasonable for their protection. Supervisors must advise workers of any known danger (s.27(2)(a)).
- BC Workers Compensation Act s.21(2): remedy hazardous conditions, and make workers aware of all known or reasonably foreseeable hazards they are likely to be exposed to.
Specific written items an FLHA often points to
Some hazards need their own written document, and the FLHA should refer to it. In Alberta, a fall protection plan is needed where a worker may fall 3 m or more and is not protected by guardrails; it must cover the fall hazards, system, anchors, clearance, how the system is used and inspected, and rescue, and be reviewed with workers before the work starts (OHS Code s.140). In Ontario, before anyone uses a fall arrest system or safety net on a project, the employer must develop written rescue procedures (O. Reg. 213/91 s.26.1(4)).
Who completes and signs it
The crew doing the work completes it at the work location, usually led by the supervisor or a lead hand. Alberta s.8(1) requires affected workers to be involved, so every worker should sign to show they took part and that the hazards and controls were reviewed with them before work began. Alberta's own sample site-specific form ends with a list of workers it was reviewed with before work started and the name of the person who did the review.
Late arrivals and visitors should be briefed and sign before they start.
When it must be redone
Do it before work starts each shift or task. Do it again, or add a re-assessment entry, whenever something changes: weather, a new task, new equipment, a new crew member, or another trade working nearby. Alberta s.7(4) requires repeats when processes change, and the ESC protocol expects re-assessment when new conditions, tasks, equipment or processes are introduced. Actsafe, the BC safety association, says another assessment should be completed if anything changes from the last one, such as the weather.
How long to keep it
Alberta's Part 2 does not set a retention period for hazard assessments. COR auditors sample site-specific assessments from the past 12 months, and the Energy Safety Canada protocol expects safety records such as inspections, training and safety meeting minutes to be kept for a full three-year audit cycle. Many employers keep FLHAs for three years to match.
FLHA vs FLRA vs JHA vs site-specific hazard assessment
The names overlap, and different sites use different ones for the same thing.
| Document | What it is | When | Legal home |
|---|---|---|---|
| FLHA | Field level hazard assessment: hazards and controls at the work location today | Start of each shift or task; again when conditions change | Alberta OHS Code s.7 to s.9; general duties in other provinces |
| FLRA | Field level risk assessment: the same tool under another name, often with a risk rating | Same as an FLHA | Same as an FLHA |
| JHA | Job hazard analysis: a job broken into steps with hazards and controls per step | Before a job starts, reviewed when the job changes | Often part of the formal hazard assessment |
| Site-specific hazard assessment | Alberta's term for the on-site assessment; COR protocols treat it as the same as field level | Before work starts at a site; when conditions change | Alberta OHS Code s.7 |
| Formal hazard assessment | Written assessment of the hazards of each job or trade, ranked and controlled | Before work, reviewed periodically and when processes change | Alberta OHS Code s.7; COR element B.1 |
Common mistakes
Prime contractors and COR auditors often find the same problems.
- Filling it in at the truck before seeing the work area.
- No time of assessment, and no revision date when it changes.
- One FLHA reused for days while the work and weather change.
- End of shift boxes pre-filled with "None" before the shift has happened.
- Workers sign without taking part.
- Fall protection or rescue mentioned only as "use harness", with no plan.
- No re-assessment after an obvious change.