Construction is about doing things as cost-effectively as possible. And while adopting leaner practices can be good for the bottom line, cutting corners isn’t good business when the safety of employees and customers is on the line. Instead, efficiency is the key, and that’s why smart construction leaders are investing in technology. They know making the switch will save them money and grow their bottom line in the long run. Technology enablers reduce costs by proactively preventing safety issues.
According to the National Safety Council, the average medically inspected injury costs $42,000. Work-related injuries cost the construction industry $170.8 billion in 2018. However, a surprising portion of this number isn’t covered by insurance. More than $57.6 billion is attributed to administrative costs, while $12.8 billion comes from uninsurable losses, including writing up injury reports, the loss of time from non-injured employees and the cost to investigate injuries. That’s $70.4 billion in losses that aren’t covered by insurance every year, with an average of $17,220 of uninsurable costs per medically examined injury.
Those numbers can keep contractors up at night. Fortunately, increasing the safety of employees and protecting a business from the unrecoverable costs mentioned above are both accomplished by live field data for safety. Here’s how:
1. Timely Reporting and Spontaneous Prompts Lower Safety Risks
A situation on a jobsite can change quickly; fortunately, live field data allows managers to track their workers as they move from task to task and can require them to fill out a questionnaire at clock in or out. Safety managers can use the same forms to share safety training videos from OSHA or the CDC and toolbox talks or self-made videos when clock in or out for the day.
This technology also gives safety managers the flexibility to automatically prompt all employees, or only specific employees, to report their work conditions with pictures or videos, watch a video or fill out a form. Live field data will track the time, date, GPS location stamps and signatures for each instance to further safety program documentation.
Effective, unobtrusive communication between the office and the jobsite alerts management to situations quickly and efficiently, limiting the job site’s exposure to risk, problems or errors. Instant reporting keeps employees safer and, in turn, decreases the risk and costs associated with an injury. According to Workmax’s Live Field Data Usage report, only 34% of contractors surveyed report receiving safety reports in real-time. Unfortunately, 69% of contractors with under 1,000 employees lack access to live field data collection, exposing the most vulnerable companies to the increased risk of injury and job site shutdowns.
2.Including Safety Forms as a Part of Time Tracking Increases Compliance
Contractors need to understand the heavy equipment usage, personal protective equipment implementation, site conditions and employee health on the job site. This requires contractors to make decisions or predictions half-blind when they don’t have the proper data or access to the truth in real time.
Now technology puts live safety tracking in every worker’s hand –– through their smartphone. Mobile workforce management apps can even provide businesses with an all-in-one location for safety screenings and labor tracking as well as other functions such as equipment tracking, job progress tracking and job cost tracking.
The app can be easily programmed to trigger health screening forms to pop up when employees clock in on their mobile apps. This ensures that contractors achieve total compliance with safety documentation and management from employees on job sites. The data takes only seconds to record and the results can be automatically shared with management.
Live field data allows contractors to evaluate information as it comes in so they can quickly respond to any safety issues or violations, decreasing the chances of accidents and potential fines.
GPS tracking of employees as they move from task to task also assists in identifying the location of a possible safety issue or breach of protocol so that the possible liability can be rectified and similar situations can be avoided in the future. Location tracking has been critical during the pandemic, giving management the ability to manage social distancing and trace possible exposures if an employee tests positive for the virus.
3.Safety Training With Videos Creates The Most Educated Workforce
Cloud-based solutions provide a flexible platform to instantly deploy toolbox talks to the entire workforce, effectively training their employees on new safety procedures and other safety training information without requiring large coordinated meetings. A study by the American Journal of Independent Medicine determined that toolbox talks are crucial teaching elements on the job site. The study proved that digital toolbox talks with video and follow-up questions were the most effective way to share critical safety and project-based updates. The study also revealed that the more relevant and personal the information was, the more effective it became.
It’s never been easier for management to create high-quality toolbox talk training videos to share best practices by making a video with their smartphone. Because the video doesn’t have to be professionally produced or take weeks to make, supervisors can make them relevant and practical to the exact situation on hand instead of a general overview of a given safety topic.
With video links embedded in a form that is prompted by clock in actions, management can be confident that their safety training has been viewed because the forms can capture affirmation question responses with accompanied signatures with time and date, and GPS location stamps from employees. This instant feedback helps to maintain OSHA compliance, and the best part is that it can be shared and disseminated as soon as the new video or document is uploaded.
4. Equipment Tracking Will Improve Employee Safety
With COVID-19 on everyone’s mind, contractors have been expanding their use of safety forms to make sure workers are properly disinfecting equipment and documenting the current state of their equipment with photos. Post-COVID job sites will still need contractors to continue to receive equipment safety checklists from workers as they clock into a task requiring equipment.
As soon as the equipment safety checklist is completed, it can automatically be emailed to the equipment manager. Standard maintenance is also tracked through the same app, extending the equipment lifecycle while also keeping tabs on key parts for any signs of wear. For example, if an employee notices excess wear and tear on bulldozer tires, they can share that information with the safety manager and equipment manager simultaneously by completing the equipment checklist survey. At that point, the employee can easily checkout another bulldozer and the equipment manager can request maintenance to quickly replace the tires, avoiding the risk of potential injury and equipment being out of commission or unutilized and unprofitable.
There are numerous ways live field equipment tracking can also impact job site safety. Without an accurate inventory of equipment, employees could be settling for the wrong equipment for their task at hand because they don’t know the appropriate equipment is available or they are unable to locate it. Using the incorrect tool leads to accidents and strain injuries. Live field data gives employees global visibility of all of the company’s equipment, including its location and current condition, ensuring they can find the right piece of equipment to get the task done in a safe and timely manner.
In the field, workers run the risk of overusing the more readily available equipment due to being more comfortable or familiar with it, even when inappropriate, which drastically increases the risk of dangerous equipment failure. Cloud-based maintenance schedules help contractors avoid downtime and can reduce the temptation to push equipment beyond recommended limits to avoid potential injuries. When equipment usage is tracked in the same app as the maintenance forms, employees can quickly see when equipment is approaching its next scheduled maintenance. If maintenance is overdue, another piece of equipment can be selected to avoid unnecessary risks or damage.
Safety failures don’t have to be inevitable; live field data decreases unnecessary risks and manages the dangers implicit to the job site. Being proactive in the safety program is the best way to avoid expensive fines from infractions and the surprise costs from job site injuries. Investing in one platform that empowers the workers to report any safety concerns while giving management the ability to easily share safety information and track activity will save companies from being subjected to paying for uninsurable costs for every avoidable injury or shutdown.
