Over the past five years, safety management software has moved from a nice-to-have to a need-to-have commodity for any company in a regulated industry. The growing costs of workplace incidents, OSHA and other regulatory fines, legal fees, and other unknown quantities make the purchase and implementation of effective safety software a financial necessity. However, choosing the right software is critical.
SourceForge recently caught up with Rob Cowden, Chief Innovation Officer of Safety Plus, to talk about how SafetyPlusWeb™ addresses the essential needs of a comprehensive safety program. Cowden offers some advice on aspects of safety to consider when selecting a safety management tool that will fit into your programmatic needs.
What is the most important feature to look for in a safety management software?
Safety should be the top priority of every CEO, President, Vice President, and General Manager of any company. This should be made clear from day one to every new employee. Making safety a priority also means making safety accessible. Finding a platform that is collaborative and effective shouldn’t cost a fortune. One of the primary benefits of SafetyPlusWeb™ is that the pricing structure is tiered vs nickel and diming per user. This can save a company thousands of dollars in the long term in both software costs and ensuring all necessary users have access to safety resources – which is critical to an effective safety program. Also, whatever software you use should be comprehensive. Using one platform for training and another for audits and maybe even a third to track incidents and generate OSHA logs creates a disjointed process that will likely cause important things to be overlooked. Keeping all aspects of your safety program in one software makes safety a more collaborative and accessible process.
What is the best way to prevent costly incidents on the job site?
To me, the two most important aspects of your safety program that will prevent unnecessary incidents are quality training and regular worksite audits. Training is the best way to prepare individual employees for the hazards he or she may face on the worksite. This alone will prevent employee injuries and costly damage to your worksite or equipment. Second, you should develop inspection checklists or audits that you can assign to employees to perform on a daily or weekly basis. Having your employees run through a set list of questions will allow your organization to identify, document, and address any hazards that might lead to an injury before an unnecessary accident may occur.
What sets SafetyPlusWeb™ apart from other software on the market?
SafetyPlusWeb™ is the result of 30+ years in the safety industry. Safety Plus has been serving as the outsourced safety department for companies across the United States since 1991. We recognized the need for an easy to use and comprehensive safety software — built by safety experts that actually addresses the most critical aspects of effective safety programs. That’s why we made it comprehensive. It even includes a training library of over 70 safety training videos (in English and Spanish) that we produced ourselves, while still offering the flexibility for customers to add their own unique content and orientations.
You say safety should be “accessible”. How does SafetyPlusWeb™ achieve that goal?
I think one of the ways our software is accessible and truly usable is that we take the time to get to know the customer in the implementation process. We don’t just turn their software on and provide a username and password. Instead, the customer’s Implementation Coordinator will get to know how the customer’s safety program works and help configure their SafetyPlusWeb™ platform to fit their unique needs. Additionally, sometimes we’ll learn in Implementation that a customer needs more help designing and implementing a safety program that will appropriately address the hazards of their work; in these cases, we’re actually able to coordinate a meeting with one of our Certified Safety Professionals (CSP) where we conduct a Hazard Analysis and help design, implement, and oversee the safety program. Ultimately, our services are not limited to just safety software, we are able to provide safety solutions no matter what type of issue a company may face.
How do you see the safety management software market evolving over the next ten years?
It’s exciting to see the technological evolution of the safety market. In just the past 5 years, we’ve seen many more technology companies try to enter the safety market space and provide a solution to challenges faced by safety departments. I think the next five to ten years will bring many more copy cats and some mergers and acquisitions, but what I’m really excited for is just more companies to take safety seriously. For the most part, safety has previously been a reactive industry. Companies would hire a safety consultant or purchase software after having an accident or getting an OSHA fine. Now, I think people are starting to recognize the importance of safety from Day One. Within SafetyPlusWeb™, I’m always pleased to see the numbers of hours spent training and the number of audits completed each month going up and up. To me, those aren’t just data points, but a real indication that our safety management software is being used to train employees and prevent incidents and even fatalities. At the end of the day, we’re making it more likely that an employee is going home to see his family after work, and that makes all the difference.
About Safety Plus:
Safety Plus is a third-party safety management and consulting firm based in Mobile, AL. Safety Plus is the owner of SafetyPlusWeb™, a comprehensive safety management software that includes training, requirements tracking, audits, safety meetings, incident management, advanced analytics, and more. Safety Plus also offers SafetyPlusWeb™ CQ, a Contractor Qualification software for organizations that contract or subcontract work and are looking to qualify contractors at the company and/or contractor-employee level. Safety Plus also offers Site Safety Labor staffing, complete safety Program Management services, safety consulting services, and a variety of ad hoc safety services including Mock OSHA Audits, Instructor-led training, Industrial Hygiene, Rescue Services, and more. Learn more at www.SafetyPlusInc.net.
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