The daily pre-task plan, done right
A pre-task plan works when it is short enough to fill out at the tailgate in ten minutes and specific enough that the apprentice feeding wire knows exactly where he is supposed to stand. Most PTPs fail on the second part: every hazard says "pinch points," every control says "be careful," and the crew signs without reading it. This template is built to push the foreman toward specifics — steps in order, a risk score on every step, permits and PPE as yes/no checks, emergency info written at the work area, and a sign-out at the end of the day that asks whether everyone is leaving the way they came in.
What goes on a pre-task plan
| Section | What to write |
|---|---|
| Job info | Project, date, shift, company/trade, foreman, exact work area, task, competent person, and the GC contact. |
| Task steps | The work in the order it will actually happen — set-up, the work itself, clean-up. Five to eight steps is typical. |
| Hazards | What can hurt someone in that step: falls, struck-by, caught-between, electrical, silica, heat, the forklift backing through the area. |
| Severity × Likelihood | 1–4 each. The risk score (S × L) turns green, amber or red. Anything 9 or higher gets reviewed with the superintendent before work starts. |
| Controls | How the crew will actually do it safely — equipment, barricades, sequence, spotters, LOTO, permits. Specific enough that someone could check it. |
| PPE & permits | Yes/no checks for PPE, and for permits and pre-checks: hot work, confined space, excavation, energized work, LOTO, crane lift, scaffold tag, aerial lift inspection, GC permit to work. |
| Equipment | Each lift, puller, saw or tool that needs a pre-use inspection, who inspected it, and any defects. |
| Emergency info | The address 911 needs, muster point, nearest hospital and clinic, who on the crew has first aid/CPR, first aid kit, extinguisher, eyewash/AED, and how you would get someone down from height. |
| Crew sign-in | Name, craft, AM initials after the review, fit for duty, PM initials, and whether they left injury-free. |
| End-of-day review | Did the plan change, any injuries or near misses, permits closed, LOTO handed off, housekeeping, equipment secured, and what to change tomorrow. |
How to fill out a PTP in 10 minutes
- Walk the area first. Look up, look down, look around. What is overhead? Who else is working here? Where are the openings, the cords, the traffic?
- Write the steps in order. If you can’t list the steps, the crew isn’t ready to start.
- Let the crew name the hazards. The person doing the step knows where the pinch point is. Write down what they say.
- Score each step honestly. Severity is the worst credible outcome, not the likely one. Likelihood is what happens if nothing changes.
- Write real controls. "Red danger tape 6 ft out from the lift footprint" is a control. "Be aware of surroundings" is not.
- Check permits and PPE. Any permit marked N means that step waits.
- Fill in emergency info at the work area. The address 911 needs is not always the project address — gates, buildings and levels matter.
- Read it out loud and get initials. One voice, whole crew, before anyone picks up a tool.
Writing controls that mean something
Most pre-task plans are weakest in the controls column. Use the hierarchy of controls: eliminate the hazard if you can, engineer it out, then administrative controls, then PPE. A few examples from the field:
- Weak: "Watch for falling objects." Strong: "Tools tethered on the lift. Barricade below with red danger tape until the lift is lowered. No one enters the barricade without talking to the lift operator."
- Weak: "Electrical hazard — use caution." Strong: "Feeder breaker locked and tagged by each worker. Test before touch with a meter verified on a known source. Adjacent energized panel stays closed; any work inside it needs an energized work permit."
- Weak: "Wear PPE." Strong: "Cut-level gloves while stripping cable; face shield and hearing protection while cutting unistrut with the chop saw."
- Weak: "Heat." Strong: "Water cooler at the stair tower, 10-minute shade break every hour after noon, buddy checks, new apprentice on half-exposure the first week."
The template’s Hazard & Control Library tab has starter language for more than 20 common construction hazards with the OSHA references, so the foreman can copy a solid control and adjust it to the day.
Risk scoring: severity × likelihood
The template uses a simple 4 × 4 matrix. Severity: 1 = first aid, 2 = recordable or lost time, 3 = serious injury or hospitalization, 4 = fatality or permanent disability. Likelihood: 1 = very unlikely, 2 = possible, 3 = likely, 4 = expected if nothing changes. The score colors itself: 1–3 green, 4–8 amber, 9–16 red. When a step scores 9 or higher, the Status column reads STOP — review controls until the residual risk after controls is marked Low. That rule gives the superintendent a clear trigger to look at the plan before the work starts, not after.
Crew sign-in and end-of-day sign-out
A sign-in sheet at the bottom of the plan is what turns it from paperwork into a crew agreement. Each person initials in the morning only after the plan has been read to them, and marks whether they are fit for duty. At the end of the shift they initial out and mark whether they are leaving injury-free. The sheet flags anyone not signed in, not signed out, not fit for duty, or reporting an injury — so an unreported first-aid case shows up the same day instead of three days later as a recordable with no incident report behind it.
PTP vs JSA vs JHA vs THA
- JSA / JHA (job safety analysis / job hazard analysis): written for a type of work, usually ahead of time, reviewed by the safety department. Use our JSA template or JHA template.
- PTP (pre-task plan): the daily, crew-level plan for today’s conditions, written at the work area.
- THA / DAP / STA: task hazard analysis, daily activity plan, safe task analysis — different names GCs use for the same daily plan. This template fits any of them.
Common pre-task plan mistakes
- Copying yesterday’s plan. If the PTP is identical every day, nobody is reading it. Conditions change daily.
- Filling it out in the truck. Write it at the work area, where you can see the hazards.
- Generic hazards and controls. "Slips, trips and falls" on every line tells the crew nothing.
- Not updating when the task changes. The worst incidents happen after lunch, when the crew moves to "one quick thing" that wasn’t on the plan.
- Signatures without a review. Initials mean the plan was read to the crew. If it wasn’t, the signatures are worse than useless in an investigation.
- No emergency info. The time to figure out the gate address and how to get someone off a lift is not during the emergency.
Moving PTPs off paper
Paper PTPs get rained on, lost in gang boxes, and filed in a box nobody can search. When the GC or an OSHA compliance officer asks for the plan the crew signed on a specific morning, you want it in thirty seconds. Field PM lets foremen fill out JSAs, PTPs and safety forms on a phone, attach them to the daily report, capture crew signatures, and file the PDF to the project’s safety folder automatically. See the safety features or start a free trial.
Related free safety templates
- JSA template (job safety analysis) — the scope-level analysis your daily PTP builds on
- Site safety orientation checklist — orient every new worker before their first PTP
- Fall protection & rescue plan — for any task on the PTP that puts people at height
- Toolbox talk log — weekly safety meetings and attendance
- Incident report template — when the end-of-day review turns up an injury or near miss
- Browse all free construction templates
