4 minute read
Safesite Tracks Leading Indicators
TTracking near misses, such as walking between a backing haul truck and the paver or performing maintenance be fore properly locking out/tagging out a piece of machinery, can be a challenge in the field.
Safety managers can’t be on every job site. The foreman may be unaware of events happening elsewhere on the paving train. The pace of the job offers employees little time to report these events, and that’s assuming they know they should report these events, how to file a report, and that they won’t be punished for their part in a near miss.
“If only one in 100 near misses result in an injury, you may not re alize how dangerous the job site really is,” said Peter Grant, CEO of Safesite, San Francisco. Safesite is a safety management system and app that assists companies with tracking safety data. “You don’t build a safety culture through minimum compliance activities. You have to look at leading indicators.”
Leading indicators, such as safety observations, identification of hazards, and near miss reports, are a key part of the Safesite frame work. For example, Grant continued, imagine a worker trips on the job site, but doesn’t get injured.
“Maybe that worker didn’t get enough sleep the night before, maybe there’s low light or debris in their way,” Grant said. “Under going a root cause analysis and implementing rectification measures for near misses could prevent an incident from happening in the future.”
That relies on empowering all employees to track events.
SAFETY LEADERS LOOK AT LEADING INDICATORS
The Safesite app is a robust platform offering a variety of features, including paperless safety inspections, audits and checklists. The app also houses hundreds of safety meeting and toolbox talk topics and allows users to track meetings and attendees. However, this ar ticle covers the app’s incident reporting features.
Safesite’s one-click reporting feature for injuries, near misses, theft, property damage and equipment damage aims to make track ing observations simple. Recording an incident might be as quick as the foreman snapping a photo within the app when he or she notic es an issue.
During the next break, they can elevate a negative observation to a hazard or a near miss, set a resolution timeframe and notify and follow up with responsible parties. According to Safesite, setting a resolution timeframe has decreased the average time to resolve a re corded hazard by 62 percent.
Images are automatically geo-tagged, but users can also markup the images and add text descriptions. The app can also be used to record witness statements and log medical treatment details in the event of an accident or injury.
Visit an extended version of this article on theasphaltpro. com, “Track Leading Safety Indicators with Safesite,” to learn more about Safesite’s additional features. Safesite can be used to log a number of incidents, including near misses.
Safesite can also be used to track positive safety observations, so safety-oriented employees can get the kudos they deserve and good ideas can more easily spread throughout the company.
SAVE LIVES—AND MONEY—WITH SAFETY
Safesite also aims to make it easier to track safety performance over time. Safesite runs all the information a company shares with the platform, including engagement levels, injury reports and more, through its proprietary algorithm to produce a Safesite Safety Score. Safesite also offers suggestions for improvement and tracks scores over time.
“We don’t just look at whether or not an incident occurred, but whether or not actions were taken to prevent a similar incident from happening in the future,” Grant said. Incidents only negatively af fect a company’s score if they do not complete the follow-up workflow after each incident. “We know incidents will happen. What’s more important is that we learn from them and resolve the root cause. At Safesite, we share these learnings, anonymously, with all of our customers so everyone can benefit from the data collected.”
Utilizing Safesite to record leading indicators, such as near miss es, does not impact workers compensation insurance premiums, Grant said. However, it could one day save money for safety-mind ed companies under performance-driven insurance pricing models.
According to Grant, Safesite is currently working with insurance partners to educate them on how the score is calculated and how it should be interpreted. “We hope to announce partnerships soon where Safesite scores could be used to reduce insurance premiums,” Grant added. Under this structure, if a company did not accomplish the tasks suggested to improve their Safesite score, their insurance pricing would return to the market rate.
“By actively identifying opportunities to improve safety, you can stay ahead of injuries and incidents,” Grant said, “so everyone on the crew feels safe in their work environment and goes home safely at the end of the day.”
Safesite is used by more than 4,000 companies in the U.S. Roughly 80 percent of users are in construction-related trades or sub trades. The free Safesite app is available for Apple and Android devices, in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.
