What to Look For In Construction Safety Software
August 12, 2022
Construction sites are hazardous places to work. Therefore, organisations must go above and beyond the bare minimum of safety regulations to protect their employees and foster a safe environment.
On-site crew and suppliers frequently change, which causes quality and standards to fluctuate. In addition, if contractors are not adequately trained, they may miss procedures even during routine work, and risks may rise. Thus, businesses must ensure that their staff, contractors, and suppliers comply with specific safety regulations.
Adopting construction safety software can quickly digitise your workflow and easily manage tasks like pre-start checklists, orientations, etc. Instead of transferring forms and documents back and forth from the office to the worksite, you can manage equipment, personnel, and incident reports in real-time. The time savings from on-site documentation for an injury, accident, or equipment failure is a benefit.
Selecting the appropriate safety software is one of many tactics you can use to increase construction safety. In addition, the right software can enhance transparency and communication, simplify reporting, and make it simpler for your team to report issues as they arise.
The ability of the construction safety software to streamline your safety processes is the most crucial aspect to consider. Using one piece of software for orientations, one for checklists, and a totally different app for on-site employee sign-in is not ideal. You must consider your company's needs, the types of customisations you want to make, how simple it is to implement, and how much training and support you'll need when evaluating various software options to meet your safety management needs.
To find the best safety software for your business out of the many available options, you should take into account the following factors:
- 1. Determine your company's needs
- You must decide which of your top needs the safety management system should address. Keeping people safe in a hazardous environment requires effective risk management in the construction industry. A sound safety system will manage your company's needs. It could support you in identifying risks and keep you informed of the most recent data from the worksites.
- 2. Adaptability and personalisation
- The construction industry is evolving, and so is your company. Regardless of the number of people working on a project or how big it becomes, you want software that can grow with you. However, you also want to adjust things, such as the particular templates you're using or the number of users who have access to your data, without altering your software. With the help of a sound safety system, your workers can easily collect data from a centralised location. You can also expand knowing that you have the necessary tools to keep upholding a high level of safety on the job site because it can handle heavy workloads and scale with your business.
- 3. Easy to use
- Be simple to use safety software for adoption across your organisation. Consider the employee who is the least tech-savvy in your team and consider whether they could pick up using this software. Ease or difficulty of integration into your workplace is another essential factor. Before incorporating the software into your work processes, you must get your training first.
- 4. Support and training levels
- A reputable developer of construction safety software will be prepared to offer support, starting with demonstrations of the software's functionality. You should pick a construction safety software that includes training as part of the package. For the software to be successfully implemented, every team member must know how to use it. Your company's injury rate will decrease the more users your safety software can train to use it correctly.
Although no construction site is completely risk-free, you can take precautions for the safety of your team members—including employees, subcontractors, and other team members—by using the proper construction safety software. The ideal software for your business will seamlessly integrate into your safety programmes and give you tangible advantages, like access to centralised safety data and more reliable reporting.