Safety software and mobile apps can help in preventing serious injuries and fatalities on the job, according to a new report from the National Safety Council (NSC) Work to Zero initiative.
The report, “Managing Risks with EHS Software and Mobile Applications,” builds on Work to Zero’s initial 2020 research and outlines how employers can use environment, health and safety software and apps to enhance their safety operations.
Latest trends analyzed
NSC Work to Zero researchers analyzed more than a dozen academic and industrial publications and conducted interviews with software providers for high-risk industries to assess the latest trends and benefits of four distinct EHS software categories:
- risk management and hazard identification
- permit management
- incident management, and
- safety auditing.
Several case studies were also conducted with employers that adopted EHS software to further understand the benefits of the technology.
4 advantages in preventing workplace injury, death
Compared to using traditional safety tracking, the Work to Zero researchers found that companies that adopted the software and apps could gain four advantages in preventing workplace injuries and deaths by:
- generating deeper safety insights with centralized data that’s acquired from a variety of sources across the enterprise, making it easier for employers to track, monitor and evolve safety practices
- ensuring compliance with regulations by helping companies stay up to date with regulatory changes and providing custom inspection checklists to ensure workplaces are safe and lawful
- accessing cost savings by mitigating costs associated with employee compensation, recruitment and illness, and
- streamlining reporting through mobile technology to enable employers to access audits, incident reports and real-time safety alerts.
Barriers to widespread adoption
Despite these benefits, researchers found there are common barriers to widespread adoption of EHS software and apps, including:
- challenges large enterprises face with customizing their EHS packages
- limited availability of comprehensive EHS software for smaller organizations, and
- a certain level of technical expertise required to operate the platform.
The NSC report points out that, as with change to digital platforms “educating across all levels of the organization is a critical step in technology deployment.”