What Is an FLHA and Why Your Crew Needs One Every Morning

The Field Level Hazard Assessment — FLHA — is the single most important piece of paperwork your crew fills out each day. It's also the one most often done wrong, done late, or not done at all. Here's a plain-language breakdown of what it actually is, why it matters legally, and how to make sure your crew does it right.

What Is an FLHA?

An FLHA is a written record, completed at the start of each shift, that documents the hazards present at a specific work location and the controls your crew is putting in place before work begins. It's site-specific, task-specific, and date-and-time-specific — a generic FLHA printed in the office the week before does not count.

In Alberta, the OHS Act requires employers to identify hazards before work begins. The FLHA is how you prove that happened. The Occupational Health and Safety Code (Section 9) requires written hazard assessment records to be maintained, and the FLHA is typically the primary document that satisfies this requirement for daily field operations.

What Goes in an FLHA?

A properly completed FLHA covers six things:

1. Job site and task descriptionWhere you are, what work is being done, and which workers are on the crew. Vague entries like "general labour on highway" are not sufficient — the task needs to be specific.
2. Hazard identificationEvery hazard present at the site that day. Traffic, weather, overhead power lines, H2S potential, ground conditions, equipment pinch points — whatever applies to that specific location and task.
3. Risk level for each hazardMost FLHA forms use a simple High/Medium/Low or a likelihood × severity matrix. The rating drives the control measures.
4. Controls appliedThis is the section most crews fill out poorly. "PPE" is not a control — it's a last resort. Controls should follow the hierarchy: elimination first, then substitution, engineering, administrative, and PPE only if nothing else is practical.
5. Worker signaturesEvery worker on the crew signs the FLHA before work starts. This confirms they reviewed it, understand the hazards, and know the controls in place. Unsigned FLHAs are incomplete.
6. Supervisor sign-offThe supervising foreman or lead hand reviews and signs. This confirms the FLHA was checked before work began — not collected at the end of the day.

When Does an FLHA Need to Be Done?

Every shift, at every new location. If your crew moves to a different site during the day, a new FLHA is required for the new location. If conditions at the same site change significantly — weather rolls in, a new subcontractor starts work nearby, the ground conditions change — the FLHA should be updated or a new one completed.

The Paper FLHA Problem

Paper FLHAs have one fundamental weakness: they can't prove where or when they were filled out. A form sitting in a truck at the end of the day looks exactly the same whether it was done at 7 AM at the job site or 4:30 PM in the parking lot on the way home.

What Happens If You Don't Have Them?

In a SECOR audit, missing or incomplete FLHAs are an S2 finding — the Hazard Identification section, which is one of the highest-weighted elements in the audit. You lose points directly for incomplete records, and you lose additional points if you can't demonstrate that the process is being consistently followed.

In an OHS investigation after an incident, your FLHA is the primary document investigators ask for. If it wasn't done, or can't be found, that's material evidence that your hazard management process failed — regardless of what actually caused the incident.

The good news is that FLHAs done consistently and correctly are one of the easiest ways to build a strong safety record. The form doesn't need to be complicated — it needs to be honest, site-specific, and signed before work starts.