There are plenty of measures that companies can take to ensure workplace safety. These could look like committing to regular equipment maintenance and/or providing employees with the right work gear. In some instances, it could focus on establishing a workplace safety policy or holding safety training, so employees can work more confidently and efficiently. Closely following these basic workplace safety practices is great, especially if your business is young. But, at what point is it time to start investing in safety management software?

In this guide, we will tackle some of the tell-tale signs that your organization requires a more sophisticated way of handling occupational safety strategies. That way, you can determine when to start looking for software and plan how to start incorporating it into your everyday business practices.

1. Increased Incidence Rates

Coming face to face with hazards is part of a construction worker’s job description. In 2020 alone, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 4,764 fatal work-related injuries, 47.4% of which involved workers in transportation, construction, and extraction. However, just because the job can be dangerous doesn’t mean it is normal—or that it should be common—for workers to deal with accidents.

If workplace incidents are happening frequently, it is likely a sign of a much bigger problem. It could be that there is no proper documentation of accidents for employees to learn from. Perhaps the company’s safety policies are not as thorough as you think.

It’s also possible that there are precautions that you are failing to take. After all, if you’re expanding or have large-scale operations, you can’t possibly monitor every safety measure perfectly.

Whether they are minor accidents or fatalities, they do not foster a trustworthy company/workplace, nor do they bode well for your operational efficiency. This is where it becomes critical to improve construction safety management using software solutions. Having these at your disposal can make it easier for you to become proactive in managing workplace safety.

2. Construction Site Inspection is Inefficient

Regular inspection is key to the safe, timely, and effective completion of a construction project. Whether it’s checking daily outputs, gauging if project specifications are met, or assessing on-site conditions, this process is what helps organizations ensure seamless day-to-day operations.

The only problem here is that there are a lot of things to consider in building and fine-tuning an inspection routine. The process can take some trial and error, which can have a significant impact on your project. Some roadblocks that you might want to look out for include:

• Operational Delays. Conducting inspections is time-consuming, especially if you want to leave no stone unturned. With this in mind, it’s possible for you to inadvertently push back deadlines in the name of ensuring construction safety.
• Inconsistencies in Construction Quality. Inspections can happen every day, week, or month—depending on the frequency that an organization is comfortable with. Each time feedback is provided, one can expect changes to the output. When done without proper documentation, there can be inconsistencies in output quality.
• Inability to Identify Hazards. With the laundry list of things you need to inspect at a construction site, your attention may be too divided to identify workplace hazards. This can lead to injuries and fatalities, which can devastate a company’s overall reputation. Not to mention, it is your greatest responsibility to ensure your workers return home safely.

In cases like these, simply relying on instincts/performing basic inspections poses risk to your employees. Leveraging safety management software can help develop targeted inspection protocols with minimal impact on daily work. With this, you can streamline the steps you need to take for each inspection and know exactly what safety measures to implement.

3. Poor Communication Amongst The Teams

Close collaboration is crucial in any construction project. Contractors, employees, suppliers, and clients all need to work together to ensure project specifications are met. However, as with anything involving two or more parties, miscommunication can happen. Miscommunication can result from:

• Communication Bottlenecks. This refers to delays in the relaying of project information, which commonly happens when there are no official communication hubs that are accessible to all parties. The tendency here is that some departments will rely on the channel that’s most convenient to them, which can leave other departments out of the loop.
• Misinterpretation of Information. No matter how meticulously crafted project instructions may be, the details can still be interpreted differently by those who receive them. This is especially true if your organization doesn’t have a single, consistent source of information to reference.
• Poor “Speak-Up” Culture. Among the members of a construction firm, field employees are perhaps the most knowledgeable about the ins and outs of your operations. However, communication silos may keep them from voicing their concerns to their supervisors. Consequently, this prevents organizations from gaining insights that may curb potential risks and improve overall project performance.

If fostering collaboration within your construction team is proving too burdensome, investing in a construction safety management platform may be the solution you are looking for. This can serve as a centralized system where all parties can access project details and share updates in real-time, allowing teams to keep an open line of communication 24/7.

4. Repeated Compliance Issues

Regulations are paramount to any construction job. From building codes to safety compliance, construction firms diligently follow industry standards. Otherwise, they could face hefty penalties or lose important business certifications, such as ISO 9000 or 14001.

Adhering to these regulations can be relatively easy when you have the time and resources to sift through compliance changes. However, if you still rely on traditional file organization methods, you are subject to misplacing or misfiling compliance paperwork.

If this wasn’t difficult enough, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has also reinforced its existing standards in recent years with more layers of compliance and more expensive fines. This rigorous inspection process is meant to ensure higher quality construction outputs alongside better working environments for employees.

With all of this in mind, it only makes sense for organizations to invest in compliance management to ensure construction project success. This allows them to automate regulatory updates in their system and streamline the auditing process.

Find The Right Solution In Salus

One can never be too careful when it comes to safety in the workplace, especially in the construction industry. By leveraging safety management software, you can eliminate business risks, maintain employee morale, and ensure operational efficiency. It can also streamline your processes when it comes to monitoring compliance, help you create preventive measures, perform predictive analysis on your assets, and so much more.

Granted, not all software solutions are created equal. As such, you must choose the right safety software for your business needs. A platform offering all of these services is Salus.

Salus is a full-service platform created specifically for construction industry safety management. It is equipped with everything from task automation to compliance monitoring. This enables businesses to take a more proactive approach toward managing occupational safety.

To learn more about how Salus can streamline your company’s safety measures to ensure your workers return home safe and sound, get in touch with us.