Has your EHS department entered the digital revolution?
Many companies are turning to specialized software to manage various aspects of environmental, health and safety, especially when it comes to safety inspections.
For many industries, a complete shift to digital has been a gradual one, but many EHS departments are finding that transitioning to EHS software has made such a positive impact on their daily responsibilities they’re eager to move forward.
Take a look at why companies are shifting away from traditional pen and paper inspections and how software is helping to streamline and simplify their safety operations.
Safety inspections have long been performed by hand, generally with check sheets and notes scribbled in corners or margins. Legibility of the final inspections could vary greatly. Any issues discovered during the inspection process would need to be noted for follow up at a later date. In some cases, findings would be transferred to a spreadsheet or other computerized form.
It’s a fairly standard process for companies, but software solutions, especially safety inspection software, are exposing many of the long-standing flaws of manual methods.
For starters, manual data recording can be expensive, especially if there’s double entry. Errors associated with manual data recording can be costly. If handwriting is illegible, certain findings aren’t properly documented, notes are overlooked, and follow up isn’t enforced, the results of your safety inspection won’t be complete or effective.
Missing key elements during an inspection could lead your company to be non-compliant or otherwise vulnerable. Also, having hard copies of inspections doesn’t give you an easy way to compare data over time. Charting your findings of each inspection can be done manually, but it’s often a cumbersome, time-consuming process.
With the increased push for corporations to go green and pay more attention to improving environmental practices, many companies are feeling the pressure to find better environmental solutions throughout their operations. Reducing material resources like paper in lieu of digital resources is a logical starting point that offers a quick return on investment.
EHS leaders are finding that software is a much-needed solution for improving the speed and accuracy of their safety inspections. Here are a few of the most common benefits:
Safety inspections are just a piece of the EHS puzzle and results often affect other areas of operation. By storing and linking safety inspection data to the central knowledge center, you’re able to find deeper insights into your department and can make educated decisions.
You can log data as you go rather than taking notes on paper and relaying your findings to another reporting system. Using software also means better storage and retrieval of data rather than storing papers in long-term storage, where disorganization can easily occur.
Relying on software as a single information center can help you develop better tracking methods to ensure that findings during safety inspections are followed up with or resolved in a timely manner. You can tell at a glance which tasks are complete and which ones still need attention.
By having all the information you need for safety inspections in one location, you can streamline your resolution time and fix issues faster. Prioritizing the most critical tasks is easier when you have a single set of data to manage rather than myriad checklists and notes.
Mobile access allows EHS leaders and team members the ability to conduct safety inspections from anywhere at any time. Everything you need, from checklists to follow up notes to previous reports, are maintained in a central database that offers instant access to authorized users. Mobile apps also allow you to work offline and will sync your work whenever a connection becomes available.
Every organization has their own unique requirements and procedures for safety inspections. EHS Insight allows you to adapt the software to your organization to meet your needs and ensure no detail goes overlooked.
Featured resource: 6 Benefits Your Audit Management Program Should Deliver