ConSASS - Construction Safety Audit Scoring System.
The Construction Safety Audit Scoring System (CONSASS) is a standardized assessment framework introduced to evaluate the effectiveness of Safety and Health Management Systems (SHMS) in construction worksites.
It provides:
- A structured audit checklist
- A quantitative scoring system
- A clear improvement roadmap
At its core, CONSASS ensures your workplace meets regulatory requirements while embedding long-term safety practices.
The Construction Safety Audit Scoring System (ConSASS) is an audit tool which provides an independent assessment of the safety and health management system at a worksite.
ConSASS provides a profile of the development status and maturity level of each component of a worksite’s safety and health management system. This helps management to better allocate resources in order to elevate standard and improve the effectiveness in managing a worksite’s safety and health risks. As an assessment tool, ConSASS can be used for cross-comparison between worksites in relation to their effectiveness in managing workplace safety and health risks.
Objectives of ConSASS Audit
Why We Need It?
- Promotes Standardization: Ensures consistency in safety audits across all sites, enabling benchmarking.
- Identifies Weaknesses: Systematically uncovers hazards and risks before incidents occur.
- Drives Improvement: Provides a maturity profile for each SHMS element, focusing management action where needed.
- Facilitates Compliance: Helps demonstrate compliance with national regulations and assures clients and authorities of robust safety practices.
- Supports Resource Allocation: Directs attention and resources to SHMS components requiring improvement.
Audit Team
- Team Leader: Leads the audit team, conducts the opening and closing meetings, assigns tasks among team members, ensures compliance with regulatory requirements, and communicates audit progress and findings to the client.
- Auditors: Conduct interviews, document reviews, site inspections, and physical verification of safety and health management system (SHMS) implementation.
- Accredited Auditors: Must be SAC-accredited WSH auditors to ensure the audit meets stipulated quality and competency standards.
- Presence on Site: All team members must be present on-site for at least one full day to thoroughly assess the site conditions and controls.
- Coordination: The audit plan and scheduling are agreed upon with the client beforehand, and the team reassesses and reallocates tasks as needed during the audit process.
Testimony of Audit Conducted
A testimony or report of a ConSASS audit conducted typically includes the following structured elements to document the audit outcomes clearly and professionally:
- Title Page: It contains the report title, project name and location, audit date, auditor's name and affiliation, and often company logos.
- Executive Summary: This section states the audit objectives, scope (areas and activities reviewed), and reference standards used (e.g., local construction safety codes, ISO standards). It provides a high-level overview of findings.
- Audit Methodology: Describes how the audit was conducted, including document reviews, site inspections, personnel interviews, and compliance assessments against the ConSASS checklist.
- Findings: Details observations categorized by SHMS elements. It includes identified gaps, hazards, regulatory compliance issues, and other notable risks. Findings are typically prioritized by severity or urgency.
- Recommendations: Specific corrective actions for each finding, with assigned responsibilities and suggested timelines for completion, are included to guide improvements.
- Conclusion: Summarizes the overall safety status of the site, including compliance level and key strengths and weaknesses. It often suggests follow-up audits or continuous safety management measures
- Supporting Documentation: Annexes may include checklist scorecards, photos from site visits, records of interviews, and incident reports.
- Signature and Date: The final report is signed off by the authorized auditor(s) with dates to validate the testimony formally.
ConSASS audit report typically summarizes the overall safety and health management system (SHMS) performance observed during the audit. It communicates the auditor’s professional judgment on the compliance and maturity of the SHMS against the audit criteria and standards. It is usually delivered in a positive, professional tone to provide assurance and clarity to stakeholders about the site’s safety management status, while also signaling areas requiring management attention for improvement.