TA-ST-20 · Steel Fixing & Structural Steel
Abrasive Blasting Task Analysis
Removing coatings, rust or contaminants using high-velocity abrasive media in booths, enclosures or on open sites, including media handling and clean-up.
What you get
One editable Word document covering abrasive blasting for Steel Fixing & Structural Steel: the task broken into steps, the hazards at each step, the controls, and a 5 by 5 risk matrix with residual ratings. Site fields and a crew sign-on are built in.
A Task Analysis is also known as a JSA (Job Safety Analysis) or JSEA. It covers each step of the job, the hazards and the controls.
The steps and hazards it covers
| Step | Hazards |
|---|---|
| Plan and set up blasting | Use of silica sand media generating respirable crystalline silica - silicosisBlasting coatings containing lead, chromate or asbestos releasing toxic dust |
| Establish exclusion and ventilation | Bystanders exposed to flying media, ricochet and dustPoor ventilation in booths or enclosures causing dust build-up and loss of visibility |
| Breathing air and RPE | Contaminated breathing air or carbon monoxide in a supplied-air respirator - asphyxiation or poisoningInadequate RPE for residual dust and media |
| Blasting operation | High-pressure blast hose whip, injection injury or coupling failureNoise-induced hearing loss |
| Clean-up and waste | Contaminated spent media and dust handled or disposed of unsafely |
Each hazard comes with its control measures, an initial and residual risk rating and the person responsible, ready to check against your job.
How to use it
Read it against the actual job. Delete the hazards that are not there, add the ones that are, fill the site fields, then brief the crew and get every name on the sign-on. A document nobody has read is a piece of paper. One the crew helped finish supports worker consultation and records the agreed work method. Engagement under HSWA ss58 to 59 is an ongoing process of seeking and considering workers’ views, so the signed page is evidence of part of it rather than the whole duty.
About Steel Fixing & Structural Steel Task Analysis
This is one of the Task Analysis documents written for Steel Fixing & Structural Steel crews. The trade covers reinforcing placement and tying, structural steel erection, bolting and welding, crane lifts, work at height.
See every Steel Fixing & Structural Steel document, or the whole pack for $199.99. Need 5 or more templates from this trade? The pack costs less than buying them individually, and saves $49.96 at 5.
Where it sits in the law
New Zealand does not require a document of this name. The duty is to manage risk so far as is reasonably practicable (HSWA s36) and to engage workers on it (ss58 to 59). Use a Task Analysis to plan the work, identify the hazards and communicate the controls to your crew. That is also how you evidence both duties.
WorkSafe names “a task analysis, safe work method statement (SWMS), job safety analysis or equivalent planning document” as the same thing done under different headings, and Site Safe titles one of its own SSSP forms “Task Analysis (TA) and Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS)”. So if the paperwork you have been sent asks for a TA, a SWMS or a JSA, this is the document it means, written to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Only the name changes; the hazards, controls and ratings are the same either way.
Where this sits in your SSSP
A Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP) covers the whole job: who is on site, how hazards get reported, what happens in an emergency. A Task Analysis covers one task inside it. They are not the same document. Site Safe’s SSSP pack runs to ten forms, and the Task Analysis is Form 10, filed behind the plan itself.
So a main contractor who asks which SSSP pack you are using, and then asks for a TA covering abrasive blasting, has asked you for two separate things. This is the second one. Keep it with your SSSP for the job and bring it to the pre-start briefing, because the value is in the crew having read it before the work starts.
Same task, other trades
This task exists in other trades too, and each edition is written for that crew. Compare all 2, or go straight to Painting.