The Challenge: Where Ambition Meets Cost

WestUrban knew their paper-based system was blocking their safety goals. They were determined to make job sites safer for the sake of their workers and lower their insurance premiums for the sake of the business. But instead, they were getting a 25% yearly surcharge from their OHS regulatory body. These surcharges were based on lost-time injuries, which they were already trying to reduce without much result. Their system wasn’t letting them get proactive.

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“I had to have a full-time admin just collecting all of the paperwork and sorting it. But you can’t make corrections as quickly if you’re not getting the information right away.”

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Kelly Kursteiner, Director of Occupational Health and Safety at WestUrban, also saw and heard that workers weren’t receiving the support they needed from their safety program. He started looking at digital options, taking into account cost concerns from the business and skepticism from crews about using an app. He learned that one of WestUrban’s main trade partners was using SALUS, and booked a demo.

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“It was everything I felt we needed to take our safety to the next level. We developed a really good relationship with the SALUS team and we got to work.”

The Solution: Unlocking Real-Time Responses

After WestUrban worked with SALUS to digitize and develop the first few safety forms, they rolled them out to the crew, and workers found that using the mobile app was as simple as texting. Kelly and his team also started getting an influx of suggestions from the field to adjust the layout, the order of the questions and the wording on their custom forms. 

“When workers gave feedback, we could make their requested changes and send the forms back out within 30 minutes. We took away their excuses not to like it. Within a month, some of them started saying that if we went back to paper, they would quit.” 

WestUrban soon had buy-in from both older and younger generations in the field. When workers saw that they could influence the forms and documents being created for their benefit, they took more ownership of their safety practices, and became active stakeholders. 

On the office side, admin could use dashboards with custom reporting to see when and how workers were completing their pre-trip inspections, daily site inspections and other procedures. That real-time visibility allowed them to react promptly to issues, fix them and ultimately move the needle on safety. They also gained the ability to share copies of forms instantly via email to prove their due diligence.

The Result: Safety Culture and Savings

Now, WestUrban describes their safety program as ‘robust.’ Their workers have a more efficient way to perform their safety-related tasks, more safety conversations are being had and their injury rates have gone way down. Not only do they rest easier knowing that they’re doing more to protect their people, but they’re also saving a lot of money in the process.

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