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    QHSEtech
    Updated 27 September 2026
    Programme governance · control verification · incident learning

    Zero Harm Construction Software — Programme Assurance Guide

    Start with a decision the programme must support: which controls need attention, who can act, and what evidence shows the response worked? This guide helps group HSE teams connect project findings to accountable decisions and useful board reporting, and follow a field report through investigation and action to the learning returned to the crew.

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    Editorial responsibility: Dimitris Mitsios (Founder of The QHSE Standard; product marketing at Tekmon) · Tekmon pays for sponsored placements on this site (disclosure) · How pages are made · LinkedIn · Content date: 27 September 2026

    Define the programme before defining the software

    Use zero harm as an aspiration with a written scope: injuries, occupational ill health and any environmental objectives the organisation includes. Define the projects, joint ventures, contractor populations and stages of work covered. This page does not treat the phrase as a certification or measurable product capability.

    For field procurement, use the construction HSE guide. The focus here is the evidence connecting projects to programme decisions, including the incident record: its capture, triage, investigation, corrective action, verification and learning.

    Define what a critical-control check must prove

    ICMM's 2026 guide connects a control's objective and performance requirements with ownership and verification. It was developed for mining and metals; the following is a proposed construction evaluation model, not a construction mandate or a complete technical risk assessment. ICMM: Critical Control Management, 2026 guide (PDF)

    Scope and control

    Name the unwanted event, work package, location and control. A competent team defines which controls are critical and what adequate performance means.

    Owner and verification

    Assign the control owner and verifier. Define evidence, timing, trigger conditions and the expertise needed; a photo or tick is not sufficient for every control.

    Failed or missing check

    Record the result, immediate response and authorised decision. Keep a failed check different from an overdue check or an approved not-applicable decision.

    Restoration and learning

    Retain corrective work, re-verification and the decision to resume the affected activity. Review repeated failures and whether the control or work method needs redesign.

    Make reporting useful to the person raising a concern

    HSE describes consultation as a two-way process that lets employees influence decisions. A briefing signature does not by itself show that this happened. HSE: consult your workers

    Proposed workflow: a worker reports that the planned control is difficult to use; the supervisor records the immediate response; the control owner reviews the work conditions with the team; an action changes the arrangement; the reporter receives feedback; a later check tests whether the change helped. Preserve disagreement and unresolved questions rather than converting every report into a closed task.

    OSHA's worker-participation guidance recommends accessible reporting and prompt responses, and identifies fear of retaliation and reporting-related incentives as potential barriers. In the interface, test language, access and privacy with the actual users, and make acknowledgement and follow-up visible. A low report count alone is not a measure of low risk, and the number of submitted forms is not proof that issues were resolved. OSHA: worker participation

    Follow one incident record from field report to learning

    1

    Capture without losing context

    Record the project, location, task, event time and evidence available to the reporter. Keep optional identity separate from investigation access, and keep the actual outcome, potential consequence and regulatory classification in separate fields. Distinguish an urgent response from completion of the digital record.

    2

    Confirm receipt and triage

    Give the report a stable identifier. Show upload status, acknowledgement and the responsible reviewer. Check duplicate reports without deleting the original observations or attachments.

    3

    Investigate and retain revisions

    Separate facts, assumptions and conclusions. Record changes to severity or classification with the reason and reviewer. Link findings to the work conditions and controls under review.

    4

    Assign and verify actions

    Name the owner, due date and acceptance evidence. Distinguish an action marked complete from a correction accepted by the reviewer. Retain rejected evidence and the reason a case was reopened.

    5

    Return the learning

    Prepare a suitably redacted summary for the affected team. Link the lesson to a revised instruction, briefing or follow-up check, and establish whether the intended people received it.

    Use investigation to understand the work

    OSHA encourages investigation of incidents and close calls to identify hazards and programme shortcomings. A proposed software check is to trace a finding into a reviewed action instead of ending at an individual-error label. OSHA: incident investigation

    Proposed incident measures with interpretation checks

    MeasureDefinition to agreeQuestion before drawing a conclusion
    Report completenessRequired context available at first reviewDid the form become harder to use, or did evidence quality improve?
    Acknowledgement delayReceipt to first accountable reviewAre offline queues or unstaffed periods included?
    ParticipationActive reporters within a defined population and periodCan the metric be used without identifying anonymous reporters?
    Action verificationAccepted actions, overdue work and reopened casesDid completion mean a checked correction or only a status change?
    Learning follow-upAgreed follow-up checks completed with evidenceDid the change reach the relevant task and crew?

    Keep trend calculations reproducible

    Record the population, period, exposure measure, exclusions and classification rules behind each chart. If using a rate, retain the denominator and explain its limitations for small or changing project populations. These are proposed evaluation measures, not industry benchmarks or predictive safety guarantees.

    Connect Great Britain CDM responsibilities to programme evidence

    HSE's principal-contractor guidance covers construction-phase coordination, the construction phase plan, worker engagement, welfare, appointment checks and site inductions. The plan must be prepared before construction begins and then reviewed and revised. Other jurisdictions need their own duty mapping. HSE: principal contractor responsibilities

    Suggested evidence: a controlled plan with revision reasons; work-package coordination decisions; appointment and induction records; welfare findings and responses; and consultation outcomes. Link each record to its dutyholder and project. These are procurement examples, not a legally prescribed database design or an exhaustive CDM checklist.

    Separate US recordkeeping, submission and incident response

    US OSHA recordkeeping depends on applicable employer and establishment criteria and exemptions. Electronic submission has its own size and industry tests. Use the OSHA: recordkeeping scope and OSHA: electronic submission applicability pages before specifying required outputs.

    Where required, demonstrate the relevant OSHA record or equivalent output and the actual submission route. Producing a PDF does not establish electronic submission, and an incident form does not determine whether an event is recordable or separately reportable. Assign the applicability and classification decision to the responsible reviewer; check state-plan requirements where relevant.

    Keep the management system broader than the application

    ISO 45001 describes an occupational health and safety management system. Use your organisation's applicable standard and procedures to define evaluation requirements; a software feature list does not establish conformity or certification. ISO: ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management systems

    Test how a change to the work method reaches risk review, affected workers, contractors and assurance checks. Keep the person approving the change and the evidence required by your process visible.

    Separate exposure evidence from confidential clinical records

    HSE distinguishes employer health records from medical records held in confidence by the occupational health professional. Do not assume a supervisor who needs fitness or exposure information should see clinical notes. HSE: health surveillance record keeping

    Use synthetic records in a permissions demo: a supervisor, occupational health professional and group analyst should each see only their authorised view. Include exports, attachments and provider changes in the test. Determine retention requirements for the actual record and applicable regime.

    Carry evidence across contractor and joint-venture boundaries

    Record who owns each project, organisation and work-package record, including joint ventures.
    Identify the organisation that owns each event record and the person responsible for its review; access to one portal does not settle recordkeeping responsibility.
    Link the worker, employer and project as they stood at the event date without exposing unrelated personal records.
    Specify what another contractor can update and how disagreements or duplicate classifications are retained.
    Agree access, exports and open-action ownership when a contractor demobilises.
    Follow a named worker's relevant induction and competence evidence to the responsible organisation; do not treat document presence as task authorisation.
    Change or expire a contractor record and demonstrate how affected work and owners are identified.
    Agree which system owns shared data and how failed or conflicting updates are reconciled.
    Revoke a departing contractor's access and demonstrate authorised retention and close-out export.
    Test an external reviewer account against unrelated projects and confidential records.

    Give the board a traceable account of control health

    HSE recommends preventive information alongside incident data, with audits of risk controls and reporting of significant changes. The following measures are proposed reporting design choices; they are not universal performance benchmarks. HSE: monitor and report health and safety performance

    Control verification

    Show planned, completed, failed and missing checks separately, with the covered work and excluded projects. Explain changes in the denominator.

    Response and effectiveness

    Show unresolved significant findings, ageing, interim arrangements and re-verification evidence. Separate an action marked complete from a control demonstrated effective.

    Learning and participation

    Show themes raised by workers and contractors, feedback provided and changes made. Interpret reporting volume with access, participation and work exposure.

    Incidents and health

    Keep incident trends and relevant health indicators, their definitions and scope. Preserve severity reclassification history and restricted health-data boundaries.

    Profiles documenting incident or safety-control records

    This rule identifies one input to a programme: incident records or control-verification evidence. It establishes neither construction-wide assurance nor an incident-reduction outcome. Use the failed-control demo below to test the proposed handoffs and the modules in your quote.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    Same rule for every product: tagged “Construction Safety”, “Safety Management”, “EHS Management” or “Incident Management”, with a sourced incident recording or safety-control verification capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. 63 qualify; the first 8 are shown, then the other 55.

    Also meet the rule, in the same order (55)

    Compare up to three construction safety platforms side by side

    The comparison uses the same rule-based product population shown above and the maintained vendor-source records. It does not rank safety outcomes, establish zero-harm performance or prove that a construction workflow is included in the proposed edition.

    Select at least two platforms; deselect one to replace it when you reach three. Apply the failed-control programme demo below to every selected product.

    Construction safety platforms to compare

    QHSE Management.

    Sources checked

    Review EHS Insight evidence and boundaries

    Safety Management.

    Sources checked

    Review Safesite evidence and boundaries

    EHS Management.

    Sources checked

    Review 1Life evidence and boundaries

    QHSE Management.

    Sources checked

    Review Emex evidence and boundaries

    EHS Management.

    Sources checked

    Review Intelex evidence and boundaries

    Safety Management.

    Sources checked

    Review Mitti (by SafetyCulture) evidence and boundaries

    Construction Safety.

    Sources checked

    Review Raken evidence and boundaries

    EHS Management.

    Sources checked

    Review Safetymint evidence and boundaries

    0 of 3 selected. Choose at least two to compare.

    An omitted product is not a failed capability assessment

    This guide does not publish exclusion verdicts based on missing research, testimonials or industry labels. A site tool may supply valuable evidence while group governance lives elsewhere. Ask for the actual boundary and handoff instead of assuming all records must sit in one platform.

    Run a failed-control programme demo

    Create a defined control for a work package with an owner, verifier and performance criteria approved by your team.
    Enter a failed verification and an incomplete check; show different statuses and immediate escalation.
    Change the work method and demonstrate review of affected controls, documents and worker communication.
    Complete corrective work, then require the designated person to record re-verification and the relevant authorisation decision.
    Roll the finding into a programme report; trace it back to the original record and disclose missing projects.
    Change severity or scope after reporting and retain the previous value, reason, actor and time.
    Send duplicate incident reports from two workers; demonstrate reconciliation while retaining both sets of evidence.
    Disconnect the device during the specific licensed workflow, then test stale content, attachments and reconnection conflicts.
    Submit a report without connectivity, restart the prepared app and verify the stored record and upload status after reconnection.
    Reject a proposed action closure and show who receives the next task, including the reassignment of an owner who has left the project.
    Export the case and attachments, then reproduce one dashboard result from its source records.
    Export the record chain and test a contractor and health-data access boundary using synthetic data.

    Pilot the evidence chain before expanding

    1

    Agree scope and decisions

    Name the programme owner, project participants, critical-control design owner and acceptance criteria. Establish what remains in other systems.

    2

    Run a representative pilot

    Include field users, contractor access, a failed check, a work change and a reporting correction. Record demonstrated results and unresolved gaps.

    3

    Accept the operating arrangement

    Approve ownership, support, integrations, data access and export. Itemise licence, configuration, migration, training and ongoing support in the proposal.

    4

    Review and expand

    Check whether findings receive useful responses and reports remain traceable. Expand after agreed evidence criteria are met; do not infer a universal deployment time.

    What remains to be demonstrated

    This research does not establish zero-harm or zero-incident outcomes, an audited incident reduction, a universal incident-rate benchmark, universal offline work authorisation, turnkey integrations, joint-venture reporting, confidential-health access or an implementation price for any candidate. Confirm each requirement in the named licence and configuration. The scenarios above are proposed tests, not firsthand product testing.

    Capture the demonstrated evidence

    Record the decision, required evidence, observed result and remaining gap for each vendor. Keep published capability separate from an accepted workflow.

    Open the demo scorecard

    Primary sources and limits

    13 sources, checked 19 Sep 2026

    Programme sources checked 19 September 2026. HSE legal guidance here concerns Great Britain and OSHA guidance the United States. The OSHA and vendor sources, incident workflow and measures moved here from the zero-incident construction guide on 25 September 2026; those sources were checked on 19 September 2026 and not rechecked in the merge. ICMM provides a mining and metals management reference, not construction legislation. Product evidence retains its own review dates; suggested record designs and demos are editorial procurement recommendations.

    Related guides

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Can software deliver zero harm or zero incidents?
    No product can guarantee that outcome. Here, zero harm and zero incidents describe a programme aspiration. Evaluate whether the system helps people identify weak controls, respond to findings, preserve decisions and verify improvement; no platform, sensor or numerical target is established here as preventing incidents.
    Does a fall in near-miss reports prove the site is safer?
    No. It can reflect changes in exposure, reporting access, participation or classification. Review the underlying records and context before interpreting the trend.
    What should an incident dashboard show?
    Proposed checks include missing fields, review delays, unresolved actions, reopened cases and changes to classification. Define periods, denominators and exclusions, and retain access to the records behind each chart.
    Does offline capture send an immediate alert?
    Not necessarily. A saved device record and a received server record are different states. Verify the actual notification route and keep urgent response arrangements available outside the reporting form.
    Must every contractor use software that submits OSHA forms?
    No blanket software requirement is established. Check the employer and establishment's applicable recordkeeping and electronic-submission duties first, then demonstrate the required output and submission process.
    How is this guide different from a construction software shortlist?
    It focuses on programme governance across projects: control ownership, verification quality, reporting boundaries and learning. The linked construction and contractor guides address field workflows and supplier onboarding in more detail.
    Is a completed inspection evidence that a critical control works?
    Only if the check tests the control's defined performance requirements and the result supports that conclusion. Completion counts alone do not show effectiveness. Keep failed, incomplete and not-applicable checks distinguishable.
    Should the board use injury rates alone?
    HSE recommends reporting preventive information alongside incident data. Review control failures, overdue responses, changes and workforce concerns with incident trends. A low count by itself does not establish that exposure or reporting conditions are unchanged.
    Does a principal contractor need this particular software under CDM?
    The Great Britain guidance describes responsibilities, not a requirement to buy a named platform. The proposed records on this page help organise evidence; the dutyholder remains responsible for the work and its arrangements.
    Can occupational health records be shared with every project supervisor?
    Do not combine employer health records with confidential clinical records. HSE distinguishes the two and says medical records are kept in medical confidence by the occupational health professional. Test access and provider handoffs for the particular record type.
    Which vendor is the enterprise winner?
    This guide does not rank vendors. The examples have different product boundaries; use the linked dated research and a configured demonstration to assess your requirements. Pricing, interfaces, offline behaviour and group reporting need explicit acceptance criteria.