Digital Transformation Can Improve Safety Culture, Mitigate Fire Risk
Digital transformation significantly enhances safety culture and fire risk mitigation by integrating advanced digital solutions into safety management systems.
- By Daryl Marshall
- Aug 09, 2024
Last year saw over 988 million acres of land destroyed by wildfires worldwide. The catastrophic loss of life and the financial toll—running into billions—underscore the urgency of mitigating such risks. Digital transformation, however, can make significant strides in reducing power outages and preventing bushfires caused by trees and other vegetation contacting power lines.
When embarking on a comprehensive revision of a safety management system, the goal should be to foster a culture where people work safely because they genuinely see the value in doing so, not because a rule or procedure mandates it. This approach incorporates the three principles of what is termed “safety differently”:
- People are the solution, not a problem to control.
- Safety is an ethical responsibility, not a bureaucratic accountability.
- Safety is the presence of positive capacities, not the absence of negative events.
Driving these objectives requires recognizing the need for better lead indicators and credible data. Paper-based systems, while comprehensive, can be difficult to manage as the business expands, but a digital solution allows the tailoring of content to suit specific risk management and business objectives, capture information from field-based users on phones and tablets, and seamlessly deliver that to the back end for analysis.
A digital solution enables redesign and development on all of the forms that are part of the transition. Every form now starts with a purpose and explains why it’s important, whether from a legal, safety, organizational or client perspective.
From a compliance perspective, it is important to remove the potential for workers to omit information. Where information is required, simply make that field mandatory, and the form won’t be submitted until that information is captured.
Geo-locations and timestamps in forms are also two real drivers of change in ensuring people are following procedures. These allow the identification of when and where various stages of forms are being completed, which helps clarify where improvements could be made.
In the case of our business, two forms in particular demonstrate how the digital solution has helped move from reactive to proactive. The first involves felling trees, which is a critical risk within the business, especially when workers are doing it around electrical networks. There’s a whole range of protocols that need to go into place to do it safely. A tree felling stump evaluation form is used after felling a tree. Then workers take a photo of the stump and self-rate how successfully they have done this.
The second form is used for reporting near misses, hazards and improvements. Since the implementation of this digital platform, these submissions serve as proactive indicators of potential risks, which are graphically represented and trend across various operational areas and risk categories. Digitally integrating these with behavioral observations, site risk assessments, and other risk-related forms provides a more comprehensive understanding of evolving risks and where to effectively intervene before harm occurs.
The challenge of visiting every work site can be immense. However, a digital solution allows supervisors to conduct desktop reviews of multiple sites, locations and operators by viewing the information and photos included in the forms within a short timeframe. This allows them to identify areas where training or improvements are required and recognize those who are performing their tasks effectively.
Workers appreciate the assurance that they are performing their tasks correctly with the necessary guidance, assistance and training.
The desktop review format reduces risk in driving, and it reduces fuel costs, service intervals and emissions, thereby promoting environmental sustainability. Moreover, it gives workers the gift of time, a resource that is often in short supply.
Within 12 months, all risk management paperwork was eliminated from field service operations. To date, 200,000 of the over 800,000 digital forms are site risk assessments and, in combination with other forms, they have provided a credible understanding of where risk sits and how to more effectively manage it.
Numerous additional benefits have been realized as a result of the transition to a digital platform. These include:
- Significant savings resulting from a reduction in printing costs.
- Document control in the field.
- The application works offline ensuring forms can be completed anywhere, and users sync them when they come back into service.
- PDFs and videos can be embedded into forms to better support workers’ understanding of processes or reference material.
- Data from site risk assessment forms in support with other processes around fire risk management and fire controls has contributed to a significant reduction in public liability insurance premiums.
- Where signatures are required and sign-off is needed, detailed acknowledgments are included. This heightens workers’ awareness of the responsibility of what they’re signing for and has delivered notable improvements.
- Field workers are empowered to raise and act on issues, and can readily address and close out actions themselves.
After successfully achieving the initial desired results in Australia, the system was efficiently duplicated into our New Zealand operations within a span of four days, marking a swift transition to digital versions.