News and Articles: BasicSafe Safety Management Software

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SAFETY IS FOR EVERYONE!

Check out your possible product supplier – does everyone get access to safety information or is it limited to only a select few?  Safety is for everyone, every employee should feel safe in their work environment.  They should feel empowered to check or review safety policies or procedures themselves without fear or reminders that safety is only for a privileged few in the workplace. You will find that study after study shows employees that feel safe and that believe their employer will recognize safety as a key element at their workplace will outperform and enjoy their job more. 

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CUSTOMER SERVICES IS STILL THE #1 BEST FEATURE

Providing customer service that is nearly heroic should be a minimum requirement.  Being a large business that cannot get back to service customers needs provides little or no value. Every software package implementation will experience hiccups and questions.  If the business cannot be responsive to these needs whether they are training, software related or general computer issues to the customer they are all the same – they can’t get the program to work right now!  Without it working, no other factors really add value or help a business improve their safety program.

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RECOGNIZE CUSTOMIZATION CAN BE AN ENORMOUS VALUE

Providing an edge or customizing the software to meet specific needs should be possible for nearly every customer.  Grade school lunch programs tell student “this is what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” Enterprise software programs should be able to provide you exactly what you want if you are willing to pay to obtain it.

ENHANCE YOUR PROGRAM AND INTERACTIVELY IMPROVE

Make sure any software you find provides the structure and muscle to support your program. It should not define your program but enhance and complement your existing practices. Whether your safety plan is in its infancy, or you have an advanced plan, every program that exists can be improved and made more efficient. Like any good design the foundation is the key, check with the product supplier to determine where their business strategy is focused. Are they providing short term compliance band-aids or are they focused on providing tools that will long term enhance the safety of your workplace?

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GET AHEAD OF THE CURVE WITH LEADING INDICATORS NOT TRAILING

Measure and use leading indicators to reward employees for safe behavior and doing the right thing. Certainly measure and use your injury information to check your program much like a check weighing machine checks your final package weight.  At that point it is too late if the weights are too high or too low. Likewise, once the injuries occur it is too late to prevent or remove them. You can prevent or eliminate a re-occurrence and investigation packages should provide follow through and action management to close this loop.   

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GET THE STRUCTURE THAT SUPPORTS YOUR PROGRAM

Don’t get caught up in the often un-used bells and whistles of a potential enterprise safety management software program. 

Remember to include the planning and costs associated with training as you consider implementation of an automatic safety management program. Interview and check with users of the programs you are planning to use and find what happened during their implementation.

Programs are sometimes needed because your safety staff is not only responsible for safety but also other aspects of management, operations, or maintenance. In that case, the program needs to be simple, maintain compliance, and ease the user’s daily time commitments associated with safety tasks. To meet this requirement, only one centralized system is able to communicate between modules and shares user, passwords, hazards, PPE, and many other synergies that create immense time and money savings for the future use. 

Don’t lose the war against workplace injuries because you spend all your time counting casualties.