Three Ways Technology Helps Small Businesses Improve Safety and Compliance

FEATURE

Three Ways Technology Helps Small Businesses Improve Safety and Compliance by Jessica Meno, Writer

Staying safe and compliant is the top priority on any construction site. From potential falls to electrical hazards, there are many protections you need to put in place to keep workers safe—not to mention all the new safety risks and protocols added for COVID-19. How can you best ensure (and prove) your crews are following the necessary safety precautions without putting an excess drain on your resources?

Proper documentation that can help streamline your processes at the same time is key, especially for small businesses. Here are three ways you can improve safety and compliance using technology.

1. Make it easy for the field to provide daily updates

By providing data straight from the field, daily reports are one of your best sources of visibility into your projects, as they cover everything from work completed and materials used to weather conditions.

It’s no secret that daily reports are crucial for running more efficient projects. After all, the more you know about what’s going on at the jobsite, the better you can support it. But when daily reports aren’t filled out completely (or correctly), it’s difficult to know when incidents or potential risks occur on a project.

Better daily reports and daily updates start with the field. By making it easy for your crews to complete and send them quickly, you’ll get them home faster—and get cleaner, more accurate data.

A point solution for daily reporting like Raken lets your crews write notes and upload photos and videos as they walk the jobsite. Then, once they sign off their dailies, you’ll get a PDF with all the info you need to increase compliance. Plus, you can see any notes and updates in a real-time insights dashboard.

More visibility, less paper shuffling. 2. Digitize custom safety checklists

One of the best ways to improve safety documentation is by filling out construction safety checklists. These checklists make sure your workers are meeting safety and health protocols in the field. The process for checklists usually goes like this: • The office sends a form to the field. • The field prints it out and completes it on the site. • The field scans it and sends it back to the office. • The office reviews the completed checklists to ensure high compliance and quality.

Pen and paper is the historical tried-andtrue way in construction, but it takes more time and effort for everyone to track. Plus, if checklists are missing information—or not filled out correctly—it’ll take even more time to complete the big picture. And when it comes time to find the documentation, digging through papers and binders isn’t ideal.

Instead, give your workers the power to create and complete digital checklists from their mobile devices. When things come up on the jobsite, they’ll have the tools they need to update you. And, the easier it is to fill out a daily safety or inspection checklist, the more likely it is they’ll complete it. Having employees use a customizable digital checklist is more flexible for your specific needs, too.

When it comes to storing your completed checklists, consider a cloud solution. That way, you have everything in one (digital) place—and can easily find the documentation you need, across all your projects, when you need it.

3. Bring toolbox talks to the cloud

Toolbox talks are an important way to help promote a culture of safety throughout your company. They educate and refresh your crews on important safety topics like jobsite hazards and precautions— and ensure everyone is informed and committed to keeping safety top-of-mind.

Toolbox talks are an essential part of safety documentation to help you maintain compliance, and prove your teams are following the necessary protocols. And like checklists, they can be even easier and more efficient when made digital.

Raken makes it easy to upload your safety topics and bulk schedule them from the office. You can even choose from our library of pre-uploaded talks—ranging from chainsaw safety to fall prevention. Once your crews attend, they can digitally sign the completed toolbox talk and it’s stored directly in Raken.

By uploading your toolbox talks and safety data to the cloud, you can see all your safety records at a glance. Then, you can quickly search and locate them as documented proof whenever you need to— without having to remember where exactly you put a loose form.

Better safety documentation, less wasted resources

Especially now, small businesses can get ahead of the construction industry by embracing technology to streamline processes.

At first, it may seem easy to shy away from change. But when it comes to safety and compliance, businesses should do whatever they can to keep their workers safe—and make it easy to document any and all proactive measures.

About the Author

Jessica Meno is a writer for Raken, the cloud-based software that was built to connect the field to the office. Raken helps boost productivity and safety by streamlining workflow processes such as daily reporting, time cards, production tracking, and safety management. Start improving your jobsite safety and documentation today by scheduling a demo with Raken (it even comes with a 15-day free trial).

FEATURE

Leveraging Technology for Operational Efficiency by Rob McKinney, eSUB

Small businesses in the construction world and other field/office settings are in a major state of flux right now. COVID-19 is accelerating a lot of trends that were already starting to take root, and the need to digitize field workflows is a perfect example. Many companies relying on legacy systems and strategies were forced to adapt when meeting in person was either out of the question entirely or had to be kept to an absolute minimum. With this said, some subcontractors are still either debating digitization or trying to figure out how to implement it best. Here are insights on how to execute digitization for a more productive, efficient operation.

Data‑Driven Daily Reports

Information and data is power in the business world, and this is arguably the area where digital workflow is most important. As a subcontractor, you may be compiling essential information regularly that the general contractor could use for future reference and troubleshooting specific issues. Recording project details on paper is both inefficient and risky, because they require additional labor to be entered into a digital platform and could end up lost in transit Also, there’s a limit on what you can cover with a handwritten or typed method. For example, how do you account for activity on the part of the worksite that you cannot see?

Construction project management software is a crucial digitization tool because it helps you capture projectspecific data and makes it easily presentable and accessible. How much information has been lost in conventional reports simply due to bad handwriting? The ability to capture worksite data and add your notes in real-time helps drive information into field activity and track labor productivity. It’s also possible to create separate versions, one to share with a general contractor and one to only share internally.

Field Notes

The old cliche says that a picture is worth a thousand words, and indeed when communicating between field and office teams, there needs to be that visual element. For example, a field team may need visual evidence to corroborate their statement about an on-site issue. However, context is important here. This is where digital tools can be effective for . Not only is it possible to save important photos/visuals in the cloud, but you can also annotate it with details and additional notes. This is critical when it comes to iterative improvement. You need to have an easily organized internal record to track the history of a specific issue. Digitization makes this infinitely easier, both with deeper and more accessible insights.

Communication Control

On the topic of iterative improvement, there’s nothing more frustrating than trying to dig in one’s inbox trying to find a specific email. You could argue that this is technically already a digital area, but the fact is that there is still room for improvement. Rather than simply relying on your email account, there are digital tools that make it possible to track certain documents and information and how these are distributed. This cuts down a lot of the worry on whether or not a particular document or directive was distributed to everyone that it needed to be. Another alternative is cloud storage, where you can set certain documents to be accessible by all parties. Just be mindful of web security when going with this route.

Choose Tech Wisely

A final point that we should mention here is that a digitization strategy is only as good as the tools you use to execute it. You need to keep in mind a few main points while you are talking to vendors about what options to use.

Compatibility: In some cases, you may just want one piece of software to complement your suite of other options. If this is the case, you need to be sure that it is compatible to avoid wasted money and major headaches.

Modular purchases: This is something worth considering because, in some cases, you only need to digitize one aspect of operations for the time being. A module purchase keeps you from dealing with software bloat.

Support: Having support for troubleshooting is an obvious example, but support for onboarding matters as well. This can mean courses and demonstrations, whichever suits your needs best.

Digitization has turned from a luxury to a necessity. The good news is that there are more tools than ever to help make a smooth transition. By purchasing the right software, you have all the means to increase the visibility of your daily operations. In turn, this makes it possible to create a data-fueled analysis of where you need to approve, down to single teams and tasks.

About the Author

Rob McKinney is one of the newest members of the eSUB team. He is focused on business development efforts to educate and connect the construction industry about the benefits of using technology to improve their production tracking efforts. Rob is a co-founding member of the ConTechCrew podcast and ConTechRoadshow. When he is not on the road at events he enjoys spending time with his family in the outdoors, trying out a new BBQ recipe or sampling a local craft brew!