5 Ways Software Helps Reduce
Incidents and Improve Safety

It’s been over 50 years since Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law, and workplace safety has come a long way since then. New methods and technological advancements have pushed that progress forward as companies look for new, innovative ways to reduce injuries. 

Unfortunately, even with the significant benefits EHS software provides, some companies continue to manage this critical process on paper or with other outdated methods. This article will explore how software helps organizations create safer and more compliant workplaces and why companies that want to reduce injuries need to make the switch. 

Let’s take a look at a few of the ways EHS software reduces workplace incidents: 

Automation

Managing EHS takes a great deal of administrative work and organizational skills. Unfortunately, when not done correctly, essential aspects of workplace safety and compliance to fall through the cracks. These gaps, often created by human error, subject companies and workers to unnecessary risk. 

Software automation fills these gaps, eliminating the risk of manual error and improving the consistency and completion of workplace safety and compliance tasks. For example, software can keep track of regulatory permitting requirements and alert key stakeholders when those permits are ready to expire, giving them time to prepare. 

Also, automation reduces an exceptional amount of administrative time. This freedom means safety professionals are no longer tied to their desks with paperwork and can spend more time in the field or on the shop floor identifying risks and helping to improve safety culture. 

Safety Analytics

Traditional safety programs primarily focused on past incidents and lagging indicators, like TRIR and DART. However, modern organizations want to prevent accidents, not just respond to them, and are using leading indicators and data analysis to do that.  

Software digs deeply into an organization’s safety data, identifies trends, and then puts that information into easily digestible dashboards. With better data, leadership understands the hazards and risks for their employees and companies on a deeper level. As a result, management can then make well-informed, proactive business decisions that prevent accidents before they occur. 

Training Completion

Tracking employee training and certifications is sometimes complicated, especially as training requirements evolve, certificates expire, and headcount grows. Many organizations manage this process on a spreadsheet, but this is often inefficient and can become unusable if not appropriately handled. 

EHS software manages and standardizes the training tracking process and has built-in alerts to notify key stakeholders when employee certifications are due to expire. As a result, employees are less likely to fall out of training compliance, and managers can quickly check if their employees are trained and competent in their assigned tasks. 

Inspections and Audits 

Audits are a powerful tool that can dramatically improve safety, but unfortunately, many organizations still do them on paper. With EHS software, audits are digital, and users have the form they need when needed and can start performing inspections in seconds.

Also, with software, valuable data isn’t trapped on paper or lost in a file cabinet somewhere; it’s immediately in the system and available to whoever needs it. By removing data lag, companies can identify and fix risks faster, creating a safer workplace.

Corrective Action Tracking

Safety inspections help tell companies where the hazards are, but that information does no good if they don’t act to fix the threats. In a paper-based environment, managers review audit findings, direct someone to fix them, and then move on, with limited line of sight into whether, how, and when that action was completed. As new tasks emerge, it becomes difficult to find time to review if the hazards were eliminated or are still present in the work environment. 

Corrective and preventive action (CAPA) tracking features manage corrective actions from start to finish to help ensure hazards get fixed on time. In addition, CAPA software can alert responsible parties and their supervisors of pending, overdue, or completed tasks, which reinforces accountability in multiple layers of the organization. 

ProcessMAP can help

Companies continue to seek new and innovative ways to improve safety and reduce injuries and risk. Implementing enterprise-wide EHS software can be a game changer for your organization’s safety performance.  

The safety audits within ProcessMAP’s EHS software help companies identify risks, robust analytics help them understand those risks better, and corrective action tracking ensures they are eliminated. Schedule a demo today to learn more about how ProcessMAP, an Ideagen solution can help you create a safer workplace.