This could be bad software design, but maybe it’s just a case of hidden time savings.

How much time did it take the client to record an incident before they had software? Let’s look at the estimated time it takes to fill out recordkeeping forms, according to OSHA:

• The 301 Form (essentially an incident report) – 22 minutes to complete.
• The 300 Log (a summary of all 301 forms) – 14 minutes.
• The 300A Form (the annual summary of injuries) – 58 minutes.

According to these statistics, a software that automates the creation of the above forms will actually save a client 21 minutes per injury, plus an additional hour per location/per year for completing the 300A form in January.

If your software can automatically submit Workers Compensation claims, then in 15 minutes you’ve completed the incident report as well as a claim form, which by itself takes at least 15 minutes. Including this time brings the time savings total to 36 minutes per incident. 

I’ve worked with companies that have had over 3,500 claims a year. If they’re saving 36 minutes per incident, that’s 2,100 hours or a little more than one full time employee.

This estimate doesn’t even scratch the surface of the time savings and overall benefit of using EHS/Hazard Analysis software. Consider the time it takes to calculate incident rates, aggregate and analyze incident data, and other computations that with the right software should be automatic and real-time.

So the question is, how much time does EHS/Risk software save you?