Winnebago Digitally Transforms Risk Control And Risk Assessment With ProcessMAP EHS Solutions

ProcessMAP > Risk & Compliance > Winnebago Digitally Transforms Risk Control And Risk Assessment With ProcessMAP EHS Solutions

During the ProcessMAP weekly EHS Leadership Roundtable, last week, Rick Puckett, Enterprise Director, Environment, Occupational Health, Safety & Security for Winnebago Industries, shared his insights on how Winnebago leveraged ProcessMAP’s EHS platform to transform their Risk Control and Risk Assessment processes. Winnebago Industries, Inc. is a leading U.S. manufacturer of outdoor lifestyle products under the Winnebago, Grand Design, Chris-Craft and Newmar brands, which are used primarily in leisure travel and outdoor recreation activities. The Company builds quality motorhomes, travel trailers, fifth wheel products and boats. Winnebago Industries has multiple facilities in Iowa, Indiana, Oregon, Minnesota and Florida.

Defining Risk

The traditional way of performing Risk Assessments was to look at the severity and the likelihood dimensions of quantifying risk. While originally Winnebago defined risk as “the probability that a given hazard will actually cause harm based on the level of control present,” it was evident that there wasn’t a single base-line definition which was accepted by all stakeholders across all locations. Over time, Rick and the team at Winnebago redefined risk as “the minimum element required for an injury to occur is that at least one person has to touch at least one uncontrolled hazard for at least one instance.” At Winnebago Industries and its family of companies, the intrinsic concept that the EHS team believes in is, “the only way a person can be injured is that they interact with an uncontrolled hazard. Whether harm results or not, there is some possibility of that hazard causing harm.”

Navigating the World of Spreadsheets

Before engaging with ProcessMAP, Winnebago documented hazards on spreadsheets. The individual site-level spreadsheets tracked controls for hazards like electrical safety, working from heights, fall protection and confined space entry. The team worked to define control in three phases, beginning with fatal hazards, then the more common and relatively more frequent types of injuries such as material handling and ergonomics, and finally focusing on the physical hazards and the workspaces themselves. For example, most fatalities in confined spaces result from exposure to toxic or deprived atmospheres: oxygen deprivation, toxic gases in the atmosphere or displaced oxygen. In order for any site to have the capability of controls related to confined space risks, they must have at least one calibrated multi-gas meter. Information and findings from the site-level spreadsheets rolled up to an enterprise-wide dashboard that provided a holistic view of the various risks and the controls available to address those risks.

Digital Transformation of Risk Assessment and Control Processes

The spreadsheet-based risk control and risk assessment solution listed hundreds of lines of items measured, color coded green if the item existed or red if it did not. The risk control score was calculated in three phases, and a location needed a score of 95% or better on phase one to move to phase two. Identifying that a robust digital solution was critical to automate and efficiently manage the risk control and risk assessment system at Winnebago, the company partnered with ProcessMAP Corporation. ProcessMAP configured a specialized protocol within the Audits Management solution that allowed each Winnebago facility to construct a Risk Control Assessment for that site.

By leveraging ProcessMAP’s EHS and Risk Management platform, Winnebago could look at each month of the year, determine which project to start in a month, how long they would take to complete, and create relevant timelines. ProcessMAP’s solutions empowered Winnebago’s EHS team to report out on an enterprise-level by project status, action items and timelines for deliverables.

One of the other advantages that Winnebago realized by utilizing ProcessMAP’s solutions was the speed and accuracy of reports. Instead of dealing with multiple emails and version-controlled spreadsheets, the company now had access to ACT (Accurate, Complete, Timely) data at all times for leadership review as well as specific site reviews. In Rick Puckett’s own words, “ProcessMAP has been really good partners with us. When the team saw what we were doing and the way we wanted to harness our data, they committed to us that they would find a way to do it.”

ProcessMAP is deeply honored to partner with thought-leadership driven organizations like Winnebago to co-innovate next-generation digital solutions that can help organizations across all verticals and all geographies manage the health and safety of workers as well mitigate potential occupational risk from workplaces. To learn more about how ProcessMAP can help digitally transform your risk management processes, sign up for a demo today!