Safety inspections are designed and executed with one goal in mind: to keep employees healthy. It’s an important job… but if your team is just collecting data that goes nowhere and doesn’t make a difference to your organization, it can start to feel like a meaningless task.
So what causes this issue? A lot of the time, this feeling of meaninglessness happens when the act of documenting info becomes the focus. Your inspectors record observations on a paper form or spreadsheet, then file it to be reviewed at some point in the future. But there’s no immediate response to those observations. Instead of having an immediate impact, the documentation gets passed along before someone is assigned to take action. It’s inefficient, and could be the difference between a safe workplace and one where a small problems grow into big hazards.
And think about it: in the grand scheme of things, all that data could be extremely valuable for tracking trends and improving safety procedures. If those documents end up in a file cabinet or buried in a folder on someone’s hard drive, time spent conducting inspections and filling out paperwork isn’t being used to its full potential. Mobile safety software, on the other hand, can make the difference between a one-time inspection and a system of continuous improvement.
The key is getting Corrective and Preventative Actions out right when they’re needed. If machinery is broken or employees aren’t following proper procedure, what’s more important than getting that corrected right away? Paper and spreadsheet-based inspections can’t accomplish that, but mobile safety software can help automate your processes. By working on a user-friendly mobile app, inspectors can get details about what constitutes a safety violation or other hazard. Even for experienced employees, having a guide that’s just a tap away is a big help when it comes to performing thorough and informed field safety inspections.
After an inspector records an observation about improper behavior or notices a machinery defect, mobile apps can instantly create and assign corrective actions to the right person. Your team gets to watch their work have a real-time impact, and you cut the time it usually takes to make that happen in half.
Plus, when your team inputs information into mobile safety software, that data can be stored in the cloud instead of a messy filing cabinet. Whenever you need it, the information will be readily accessible and easy to reference.
That data doesn’t lose its usefulness after the problems are corrected, either. The more data you collect, the better picture you get of your organization’s successes and failures. Integrated business intelligence dashboards aggregate data, making it easy to track trends over time. You’ll get a real sense of whether or not the programs you’ve put in place to increase safety actually work, along with the data you need to continuously improve those initiatives.
Don’t get stuck just documenting information. By taking the observations your team is already recording and making them even more useful, you can achieve real improvements to the health and safety of everyone in your organization.
