I had a great response to my Top 3 Safety Apps post including direct replies from each app mentioned in the post! One of the apps, Haz-Trac even wrote a post about being named in my post, how meta!
I had the opportunity in January 2017 to collaborate on a webinar to discuss BLR’s recent safety and technology survey of 450+ safety professionals. The webinar was conducted with Mark Scott of ProntoForms on January 25, 2017. The full report of the survey can be downloaded here.
In preparation for the webinar, Mark and I discussed the results and did a bit of mutual brain picking as we represent the two industries: safety and technology. Overall, Mark was surprised by the low use of technology, forms, and mobile applications in the industry. As a safety pro, I was NOT surprised! Here’s why:
“If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen” is ruining our vibe. As most industries move towards greener and paperless solutions, a lot of safety activities still rely on pen and paper. I challenge you to seek out paperless documentation, which leads me to…
We don’t trust the cloud. Mark pointed out to me how most of us almost require instant gratification and access to information, photos, and people, yet in the workplace, we are settling for a delay in such information. Why shouldn’t we demand instant access to real-time safety information? Wouldn’t it make sense for a plant manager to be able to tap 2-3 times on his cell phone to access her site’s current performance related to key performance indicators?
We are used to quarterly and annual reporting, weekly or even daily tracking and analysis of data is unheard of. If there’s one lesson that jumped off of the survey results report and slapped me in the face it was this – finding a tool that can help you analyze data and provide relevant information you can use to make adjustments and corrections in real time is invaluable to a safety pro.
I’d like to hear from you! Check out the free webinar ask questions, comment here, or on social media. We’ve got to grow as a profession and leverage the technology available to us to keep our workers safe.