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Companies in all industries are responsible for training employees to perform their jobs safely and productively. If and when accidents happen on the job, is your company liable? One of the best ways to minimize risk and liability from job site accidents is to create a culture of safety in the workplace where employees take responsibility for reducing incidents and ensuring job site safety. One simple step in creating that culture is to require that staff conduct daily safety meetings that cover relevant safety topics related to the job at hand and in documenting safety meetings as they occur.

Not only are safety meetings important for general business liability, but they are a requirement for OSHA compliance. Just holding safety meetings is not enough. Are you making sure that your safety meetings are well documented and can be accessed quickly upon request?

Seeing is Believing – Documentation is Key

Statements to the OSHA Compliance Officer like – “We hold daily tailgate meetings at each worksite” or “Our Supervisors train all the employees under their control how to do the job safely” tend to fall on deaf ears – unless you can prove the training was done with written documentation.

For OSHA seeing is believing. They want to see proof of training that includes:

· Date of the meeting

· Topics discussed

· Roll call lists with names of all attendees including signatures to prove attendance?

How Important is Safety Training Documentation? Employee Safety Training Records are among the first records that the inspector wants to see when an OSHA compliance audit is performed at your organization. Usually, the request for records occurs during the initial meeting – when the inspector must communicate the purpose of the audit. The audit meeting is mandated by OSHA regulations and it must occur before an inspection of a facility begins.

When the request for audit documentation comes from the inspector, it’s imperative that you comply. Many organizations are not prepared and thus fines start adding up. If you have implemented a system where you can easily access the history of Employee Safety Training Records, it must include all pertinent data to validate compliance.

For many organizations, the process of preparing for an audit consists of accessing a paper file folder and hoping that all paperwork is complete and up to date. We all know that hope is not a strategy when it comes to protecting your business assets and liability. Employees must understand the importance especially when not all organizations have safety managers or compliance officers that enforce the discipline of proper documentation. Because many organizations have paper-based processes, aggregating the data for summary reports can be a significant manual effort.

Electronic data collection is becoming the norm and if you haven’t considered an electronic records collection and reporting system, your organization and most importantly your employees are at risk.

Kordata’s Safety Meeting Module Configured for Your Workflow

Kordata’s Safety Meeting Module was designed to make documenting safety meetings simple and easy using your tablet or phone in online or offline modes and will automatically sync the safety data to a central document and reporting system. Our Safety Meeting Module can be customized to your specific workflow including all pertinent data. Kordata’s Safety Meeting Module supports all types of data while enforcing compliance with the help odrop-downwn menus, GPS coordinates and Google Map integration, documentation of weather conditions, location of meeting (Tailgate meeting, Ad Hoc, Facility and more), topics of discussion, and names and signatures of staff in attendance.

Collecting safety meeting data with Kordata is easy and ensures that the documentation of safety meetings is complete by enforcing compliance with required fields preventing staff from saving until all data is entered properly. Mobile data collection also increases ROI by reducing redundant data entry. Accidents do happen and if and when they do occur, proper documentation could potentially save you thousands of dollars in fines and most importantly preventing future accidents.

Finally, and most importantly creating a culture of safety as a priority will not only save your company money but will reduce risk to employee safety.

For more information about Kordata can help you with your safety programs, watch the short demo of Kordata’s Safety Meeting Module above and sign up for our Protective Coatings Free Trial, which contains the Safety Meeting Module

For a list free Toolbox Talks for safety meetings that you can use or model in your company OSHA Training.com is a great place to start. Check out the Toolbox Talks

Move to mobile data collection

Mobile data collection has become more pervasive over the last few years which means that if you haven’t considered it for your business yet, you are most likely behind. Mobile data collection is not for every company, but for those that are currently collecting critical information in the field on paper, mobile is imperative for many reasons. These include visualizing data quickly, eliminating errors and delays from manual data entry, and empowering your field staff with the tools they need to get their job done accurately. To shift to a mobile-oriented data collection solution you must first identify your goals. These goals will help you maintain focus and will be a yardstick by which you measure your progress.

GOALS:

For instance, a goal for mobile data collection may be to reduce the time it takes to get data from the field so that you can eliminate manual data entry and replication of work, and thereby significantly reduce delays with reporting. Delays may result in lost revenue, fines, or, in the worst case, injury from a potential job hazard. When considering going to mobile, setting goals is important, but quantifying the return on your investment and implementing the correct capabilities will ensure that you are truly benefiting from the transition to mobile data collection.

DECISIONS TO CONSIDER:

When deciding on mobile capabilities, it’s also important to take in to account the culture of your field teams and how they will react to a new or different method of data collection. Consider solutions that will address your current processes and address the needs of the end user to ensure that they can and will embrace the change. Resistance to change typically comes from lack of experience with something new or the fear that technology will diminish the value the employee brings to the company. If you involve the end user early in the process, they will assume the role of ownership, but most importantly they will provide valuable feedback which will reduce resistance to adoption in later stages of deployment.

SHORT TERM & LONG TERM NEEDS

Finally, always consider that the change to mobile data collection is both a short and long-term investment. Finding a solution to address your immediate needs may be good, but you need to be prepared to answer many questions and fully understand your company culture and risk tolerance.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER?:

· Do I build a solution in-house or find a solutions provider?

· Does the solution provider I choose have a proven record of success with customers like me?

· Can the mobile solution scale to meet my needs for the short term and as my business grows?

· Can it address other data collection needs outside of the immediate need?

Mobile data collection may sound good to solve the problems with getting and reporting field data quickly, but there are many challenges to consider both with technology and culture. If you are considering going to mobile data collection, first invest in the time to analyze both the benefits and risks.