Workplace Health and Safety Checklist - Analytics drives better outcomes for the construction sector

The evidence is clear: Becoming a more data-driven organisation is critical for future success.

The advantages of using data to inform daily decision-making include increased profitability, accelerated project timelines, and better risk management, among other key benefits.

Thus, the key question isn’t whether organisations in the construction industry should become more data-driven, it’s how.

In this blog, we’re focusing on how a modern approach to risk management plays a vital role in driving better outcomes for workers and businesses throughout the construction sector, and offering a checklist for teams who are ready to take the next steps on their journey towards becoming more data-driven. Along the way, we’ll offer examples of how we recently helped our customer - Ferrovial Construction - to deploy a new and improved risk management solution to their teams working at Heathrow Airport.

The checklist for teams looking to level-up their approach to workplace health and safety

Take stock of your current approach to risk management: As with any new process or technology, the first step in adopting a more data-driven approach to risk management is to understand your current environment.

Ask yourself:

✔ What does my current approach to risk management look like? How does our team understand and address our risk environment? Where does critical information come from? How is it collected? How is it accessed? How is it distributed? How is it analysed? How is it actioned? What challenges or benefits do we experience with our current approach?

Here, Ferrovial came across a unique - but not uncommon - issue. They realised that some long-serving members of their team were deviating from certain processes or ways of working because they believed that they knew how to do it better, or faster, based on their own experience. This highlighted the need for a solution that could thoroughly and accurately investigate worker behaviours and offer the team concrete insight into what practices were safe, and what needed to be changed. To learn how Reactec helped all members of the team get back on track, just click this link to read Ferrovial’s full story

✔ Who does it involve?Do team members have easy access to information about their own risk environment? Who is responsible for communicating key information?

✔ What tools or technologies do we use? Do we use modern tools and technology to manage exposure to dangerous risk? If yes, when was the last time we evaluated its effectiveness? Has it been more than two years? If no, when was the last time we evaluated options for risk management technology? Has it been more than two years?

✔ How do we measure impact and success? How often do we evaluate the data that we collect about our environment? What do we do with it?

✔ What has been the impact of this approach over the last 6 months? How has our working environment become safer as a result of our approach to risk management? Have our controls improved? Have we implemented better ways of working? Has the occurrence of accidents or injury or exposure to dangerous sources of risk decreased?

If you can’t answer these questions, or if your answers to these questions don’t paint a picture of a functioning ecosystem, your approach to risk management is likely in need of an upgrade. You can read this article to learn more about how Reactec’s solution can help your team level-up.

Once you’ve thoroughly interrogated your current approach, you’re ready to move forward with the next step.

Define your goals: When it comes to implementing better ways of working, it’s critical to gain a thorough understanding of what you’re trying to get from your efforts and investments, and why. 

Consider:

✔ Why am I investing in this initiative? What problems will this help us solve? What processes will this help us improve?

✔ What do I want to accomplish? What is our vision for the health and safety of our workers? What business benefits do we expect to see from this investment?

✔ How will we measure impact and success?What metrics will we use to track and understand the success of our new approach to risk management? Who owns them?

Speaking of metrics, Ferrovial saw an exponential improvement in a key area after implementing R-Link, Reactec’s third generation workplace wearable device. In a two night trial of R-Link’s proximity detection technology, Ferrovial’s alerted workers recorded 82% less incursion time than unalerted workers. This solidified the need for reliable proximity detection technology in the field at Heathrow Airport, where the speed of vehicles and pace of work is exceptionally fast, and potentially very dangerous. Learn more about Ferrovial’s story here.

Goals can (and most likely, should) change over time - but these questions are a good place to start. Once you’ve answered them, you’re ready to move on to the next step, which is all about action.

Choose a partner and define your process: It’s time to decide how and when you’re going to move forward with a new solution, and who’s going to help you along the way. Here’s what to evaluate:

✔ What’s most important to me in a technology partner? What values and vision should my partner and I share? What kind of experience should they have? Can they offer me the support that I need? Can they grow with me? Is the technology easy to
 implement and adopt? Will I need to allocate additional resource for management of the solution?

When it comes to support, it’s crucial to have a reliable partner that aligns with your values and plans for the future. Ferrovial found Reactec’s help to be remarkable, stating that “Reactec’s approach to trialling and feedback was exceptional.” Further, their proactive approach to health and safety is well-aligned with Reactec’s philosophy of prevention engineering. 

✔ What is my budget? How much am I going to invest in this initiative?

✔ What is my timeline? When can I get started implementing this new solution? How long will it take to fully adopt this new approach?

✔ Who should be involved in approving and implementing a new approach? Who owns this project? Which team members will be involved? How much can my technology partner help with implementation and adoption?

Reactec: a partner for the next step in your journey towards a better approach to risk management

Choosing a partner to support your journey towards becoming a more data-driven organisation is an incredibly important part of the process. For two decades, Reactec has helped organisations all over the world to drive better outcomes for their workers, and their business. We’ve helped customers, like Ferrovial, to deploy modern, effective solutions for risk management in the workplace, and empowered them to take better control of their risk environment.

We do all of this with a lightweight ecosystem of workplace wearable devices, global technology partners, and Cloud-based analytics that work seamlessly together to provide teams with a complete solution to address, manage, and mitigate exposure to potentially dangerous risks in the workplace, including vibration, noise, dust, and more.

In particular, our powerful Analytics platform gives teams the insight that they need to move away from outdated or non-existent processes for risk management, towards data driven decision-making. With the power to consolidate data from multiple environments and sources of risk into one single source of truth, you’ll have easy and uncomplicated access to insight that you can use to adjust behaviours, refine controls, and ultimately drive better outcomes.

And all of this occurs without the need for additional resource or heavy lifting: information is retrieved automatically from your workplace wearables and connected devices before Analytics is performed on it behind the scenes. Helpful reports are then generated and distributed automatically to whomever you want, whenever you want. Put simply: deployment is easy, and adoption is swift. Your team will have the power - and the support - to make data-driven decisions in real and near-real time, without the need for an IT team or dedicated personnel.