First introduced in 2008, The Safety and Health Assessment System in Construction or SHASSIC is an independent tool to assess and evaluate the safety and health performance of a contractor in construction works or projects in accordance to Construction Industry Standard (CIS 10:2020). In 2018, SHASSIC was enhanced with an upgraded scoring systemin consideration of latest development in occupational safety and health practices as well as changes made to relevant regulations.

Drafted to provide precise guidance to assessors and contractors in assessing their safety and health performance at construction sites, SHASSIC allows the determination of high risk activities based on the proposed hierarchy of high risk activities.

Scope of SHASSIC

SHASSIC sets out the safety and health management and practices of the contractor for various aspects of the construction work activities. Each phase is assessed through three main components of assessment such as document check, workplace inspection and construction personnel interviews. The components encompass:

Use of SHASSIC

SHASSIC is intended to assess the OSH performance of a project. Preferably, the assessment shall be carried out when there are different types of activity that are ongoing at the same time (concurrent activities) and many workers of different levels(main contractor, main subcontractor and subcontractor) are involved at the site. It is not intended to be used independently to decide if the project site or parts of the project site are in accordance with the requirement of the relevant Acts and Regulations or OSH Management System.

It is the responsibility of all parties involved directly in a project site to ensure that safety and health of the construction site conform to the legislation's requirement, approved standards, code of practice, guidelines, specifications and contractual requirements.

SHASSIC Over Recent Years

It was recorded in 2015-2020, a total of 1,163 SHASSIC assessments were conducted, with a 8.4 times increase witnessed throughout the period. A total of 43 out of 99 projects in 2020 obtained 5-star rating compared to 2019 where only 16 out of 99 projects obtained 5-star rating on the assessment, generally signifying an encouraging trend to safety standards.

Moving Forward

The programme on safety in construction will still be focused in CIDB’s planning in a bid to ensure the importance of safety and the consequences of non-compliance based on the am ended CIDB Act. The programmes initiated by CIDB on safety is also to complement the initiatives implemented by DOSH.

In the pipelines, it is strategized to make SHASSIC mandatory for G4 and above under Strategic Objective (SO) C4 aimed at improving overall work environment for workers. The plan to enhance SHASSIC Web Portal as a platform for Big Data Analytics on construction safety under SO P3 is also underway, with the objective to improve current services with new benchmark and technologies.

CIDB is continuously developing and improving standards, policies, operating procedures and solutions tailored towards a pre-emptive and proactive approach intended to reduce and eventually eliminate construction site hazards.

To learn more about SHASSIC or register as a SHASSIC Assessor. visithttp://shassic.cidb.gov.my/. Reach out to us at (+6) 03-4047 8000 and shassic@cidb.gov.my for any enquiry on SHASSIC.