OnDemand · Self-paced · Rebuilt for the 2024 edition
Activity Hazard Analysis
EM 385-1-1, 2024 Edition (15 March 2024) · ENG Form 6206
Learn to prepare an Activity Hazard Analysis that a USACE or NAVFAC project will accept — job steps, operations, hazards, cited controls and Risk Assessment Codes — and prove it by preparing one that gets read and graded by the instructor.
Why this course exists
The manual changed. Most AHAs on job sites did not.
EM 385-1-1 was reissued on 15 March 2024.
Citations moved
Controls written against the 2014 edition point at paragraph numbers that no longer say what they used to. A reviewer checks the citation, not the sentence next to it.
The form is current
ENG Form 6206 (AUG 2023) is what a project receives. The eight items required by paragraph 2-6.d(4) have to be on it, and they have to be recognisable.
RAC is residual
The code records the risk that is left after the controls on that same line. The overall RAC is never averaged down — it is not lower than the highest job step RAC.
If you already have AHAs on the shelf, the assignment in this course can be exactly that: take one written under the 2014 edition and bring it up to the 2024 requirement. You finish the course with a document you can actually use.
Who it is for
Anyone who signs, writes or reviews an AHA
No prior EM 385-1-1 experience is assumed. The second module teaches you to navigate the manual from scratch.
Foremen
Who write the AHA for the work their crew is about to do.
Superintendents
Who sign it and answer for it in the preparatory meeting.
Project Managers
Who submit it and get it back marked up.
SSHOs & QC
Who review subcontractor AHAs and have to say what is wrong with them.
Learning outcomes
What you will be able to do
Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Explain EM 385-1-1 (2024 Edition) regulatory requirements for preparing, reviewing and accepting an Activity Hazard Analysis.
- Classify a described workplace incident by its injury-source code and hazard family.
- Deconstruct construction activities into sequential, definable job steps and operations.
- Compile the materials, equipment, tools and consumables an activity requires, with the training, certification and safety data sheets that attach to them.
- Identify safety, health and environmental hazards associated with each job step.
- Determine Risk Assessment Codes by evaluating hazard severity and probability on the USACE matrix.
- Select control measures for a hazard using the hierarchy of controls, in order of decreasing effectiveness.
- Determine the risk-acceptance authority for a given residual RAC under the prime contractor’s APP process.
- Prepare an AHA on ENG Form 6206 containing all eight items required by EM 385-1-1 paragraph 2-6.d(4).
- Describe how an AHA is provided to, reviewed by and acknowledged by all involved employees before work begins.
- Identify the conditions that require an AHA to be revised, and which revisions must be resubmitted for acceptance.
Curriculum
Five modules, in order
Each instructional module ends with a ten-question quiz. The assignment is graded by the instructor.
Course Orientation
What the course covers and what it asks of you, how the platform works, what to download, how the pop-up checkpoints and module quizzes behave, and what you have to finish to earn the certificate.
Navigating EM 385-1-1, 2024 Edition
For many people this is the first time they have opened the book. All thirty-seven chapters run the same ten numbered sections, so learning one chapter teaches you all of them. You learn to read a citation such as 35-8.b(6) left to right and land on the exact line.
Workplace Hazard Identification and Mitigation
The five core hazard families, the five-level hierarchy of controls in order of decreasing effectiveness, and the twelve injury-source codes — Struck By, Caught Between, Fall to Below and the rest — with a worked example for each.
Preparing an AHA — The Nine-Step Method
One definable feature of work, carried the whole way through: underground conduit through an active asphalt parking lot. Nine job steps broken into operations, every operation’s hazards named as mechanisms, a control and an EM 385-1-1 citation on every line, and a residual RAC rolled up to the overall code.
Includes the column the USACE form does not have — Operation — and what to do with it when you transfer the work onto ENG Form 6206.
The AHA Assignment
You prepare a complete AHA — either for a definable feature of work on a project you know, or by taking an existing 2014-edition AHA and bringing it up to the 2024 requirement. You submit two files: the analysis workbook and the same information transferred onto ENG Form 6206.
It is read against nine checks and returned within two business days. There is no percentage — it either meets the standard or it comes back with the reasons, and you revise and re-upload.
Assessment
How you are assessed
Three layers. Each one establishes something the others do not.
| Layer | What it is | To pass |
|---|---|---|
| Module quizzes | Ten multiple-choice questions at the end of each instructional module, one correct answer each. Every learner answers all ten. | 70% — seven of ten. Two attempts, then the module resets and you work through it again. |
| The AHA you prepare | A complete Activity Hazard Analysis in both formats, read by the instructor against nine checks. | Pass or revise. Two business days’ turnaround, up to three rounds. |
| Final examination | Ten multiple-choice questions drawn at random from the module question pool. Twenty-minute limit. | 70%. Two attempts. |
There are also short pop-up checkpoints inside each video. If a checkpoint is not answered within a minute the video returns to the last bookmark, so the course only advances when someone is actually watching.
To finish the course you pass every module quiz, submit an acceptable AHA, pass the final examination, complete the course evaluation and the attestation statement, and then download your Certificate of Completion.
What you download
You work in the real formats, not screenshots
Blank AHA workbook
The course Excel format, with the Operation column already in place, the RAC matrix, and the general safety requirements block.
ENG Form 6206 (AUG 2023)
The current blank USACE form — the document a project actually receives.
The completed example
The underground-conduit AHA from Module 3, finished, in both formats, to work from.
EM 385-1-1 (15 MAR 24)
The manual, in the marked-up reading format used throughout the course.
Getting-started guide
Logging in, navigating, downloading handouts, uploading the assignment, printing the certificate.
The nine checks
The standard your AHA is graded against, and the five mistakes that most often send one back.
The details
Before you enroll
| Format | OnDemand and self-paced. There is no live session and no scheduled start date — you begin when you enrol. |
| Instruction | About four hours of video across the modules, plus the time you spend preparing your AHA. |
| Access | Thirty days from first login. Extensions are not available; if the time runs out you re-enrol and the clock starts again. |
| Prerequisites | None. Construction site experience helps, but the manual is taught from the ground up. |
| What you need | A desktop, laptop or tablet, a current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari, and an internet connection. Two monitors are recommended — one for the video, one for the manual. Video cannot be downloaded. |
| Instructor | Kugan Panchadsaram, PE, PMP. Office hours Monday to Saturday, 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM California time. |
| Standard | EM 385-1-1 (15 March 2024) and ENG Form 6206 (AUG 2023). This course does not include OSHA 30. |
Is this the same as your older AHA course?
No. The earlier course was built on the 2014 edition of EM 385-1-1. This one was rebuilt from the ground up against the 15 March 2024 edition — new citations, the current ENG Form 6206, and a graded assignment that did not exist before.
What if my AHA comes back for revision?
You receive an email naming exactly what needs to change. You revise and re-upload. Up to three rounds are available. Most learners pass on the first submission and a few on the second.
What happens if I fail a module quiz?
You have two attempts. If you do not pass in two, your progress resets to the start of that module and the quiz reopens once you have worked through it again. Resets happen within two hours on a weekday between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM Pacific time, and otherwise the next morning between 8:00 and 10:00 AM.
Can I buy several seats for my crew?
Yes. Call (858) 212-2941 or email info@kugan.com and we will set up the enrolments for you.
Do I get something I can show the prime contractor?
You get a Certificate of Completion you download at the end, and the AHA you prepared during the course — reviewed, revised if it needed it, and in both the workbook and ENG Form 6206 formats.
Start today
Self-paced, thirty days, and you finish with an AHA that has been read by someone who grades them.
Questions first? info@kugan.com · (858) 212-2941