Why a Mobile First Safety Strategy Makes Sense for Electrical Workers

A mobile-first safety strategy significantly enhances worker safety, compliance and operational efficiency in the electrical industry by empowering workers and enabling real-time safety management.

• By Taylor Thorn
• Sep 10, 2024

Often, discussions of workplace safety are framed in terms of compliance. What does an organization need to do to avoid OSHA fines? That’s important, of course, but it’s just as important — if not more so — to think in terms of worker safety. After all, OSHA guidelines exist to prevent workplace injuries.

Injury prevention is also good for business. On average, injured workers require 11 days off of work. That missed time, combined with potential workers’ compensation costs, hurts the bottom line. For electrical workers, the costs can be particularly painful for employers, as the industry is currently facing a severe shortage of skilled workers.

It also faces challenges in implementing traditional training and safety documentation and reporting. Because workers are often in the field, maintaining unified data — and even keeping track of incidents and certifications — can be challenging. A mobile-first strategy can help. Here’s a look at five ways embracing a mobile-first approach to safety can improve compliance, worker safety and the bottom line in the electrical industry.

1. Real-time Insights into Worker Conditions

One electrical contractor whose workforce was more than 60 percent outdoors was using a paper-based system to track safety incidents. Employees would note things down on clipboards, and then submit them at the end of the week for another worker to enter manually into the computer system.

This was not only cumbersome and time-consuming; it also meant that information into dangerous conditions often came well after that information could have been useful. In some cases, the information got lost altogether.

After transitioning to a mobile-first system, the contractor was able to enter incidents via smartphone in real-time and see analytics in real-time as well.

This proved invaluable for managers and team leaders. Suddenly, it was much clearer who needed what, in terms of both equipment and ongoing training.

The mobile system also lets everyone be more proactive about safety. They now get push alerts reminding them to do safety audits so that they can assess their work conditions before anything goes wrong and, ideally, prevent incidents and injuries.

In addition to making it easier to monitor and document OSHA compliance, the mobile system helps the contractor improve worker safety every day, which benefits everyone, including the people they serve.

2. Empowerment of Every Worker

Another benefit electrical workers get when they have access to a mobile-first safety strategy is that they’re empowered to take safety matters into their own hands. Literally.

Field leaders are usually responsible for their teams’ energized electrical permits. These important pieces of documentation ensure due diligence before work on energized equipment begins.

With the power to complete and organize energized electrical permits on their mobile devices, electrical workers can ensure smart documentation without sacrificing efficiency.

Another example is when near misses often go unreported. A facility worker almost trips over a cable but manages to avoid it at the last second. If the near-miss reporting process requires them to track down a binder with a paper form, fill out the form and submit it to a mailbox, there’s a good chance they won’t pause whatever urgent task they’re completing to submit the form.

There’s an even better chance that they’ll forget to do it at all by the time they have a spare minute. The result is that this particular worker goes about their day unharmed, but the cable remains in a place that might trip the next worker to pass by.

When safety reports are just a few taps away in a device, however, it’s much easier to document such incidents and therefore much likelier that they’ll be remediated. Again, the outcome is improved safety for workers, which means more time at full capacity for an organization as a whole.

3. Individualized Support for Every Worker

Mobile-first safety systems aren’t only about documenting when things go wrong, of course. They can also be part of education and prevention efforts. Some mobile safety systems include training functionality as well. Because the training is delivered via mobile device, it can be customized to individual workers’ needs.

This is great when a team consists of workers with varied experience levels. Mobile-first training means everyone can complete the site-specific modules, then each worker can complete a tailored training or refresher course that meets their current needs.

Another popular use case is if a site manager notices unsafe practices during the work day, they can pause work and pull up the relevant safety module for everyone to review before proceeding.

Many mobile-first training platforms also include certification tracking and reminders. So workers and managers can get reminders when someone needs to renew a certification or complete a new credential to work a specific job.

This lowers the mental load on everyone and prevents unpleasant surprises at worksites.

4. Safer Inspections

In addition to training and tracking functionality, a mobile-first safety strategy can benefit electrical workers during equipment inspection. Internet-connected sensors can track not only the equipment itself but also the environmental conditions in the surrounding facility. When anything goes out of range — temperature, humidity, rotation speed, etc. — connected software can send alerts to workers’ devices.

This allows for more proactive and targeted maintenance that lets workers address small-scale problems before they become bigger and/or more dangerous.

Set up correctly, such monitors can also feed data to a unified dashboard that lets leadership monitor the safety and performance of the organization as a whole.

A mobile-first safety strategy also makes it easier to manage lockout/tagout (LOTO) risks and audit or inspect LOTO procedures. This ensures the right processes are in place to prevent the release of hazardous energy during service or maintenance activities.

For example, a field leader uses a mobile device to document when a capacitor is properly disconnected for repairs in the field. From the palm of their hand, they can verify that all LOTO procedures were followed in the correct order.

A mobile-first safety strategy helps electrical workers keep track of both their equipment and their environmental factors, which leads to a better understanding of an organization’s safety goals.

5. A Uniform Culture of Safety

When everyone at an organization is expected — and able — to contribute to safety and compliance, they tend to be more invested in the organization’s overall safety outcomes. 

For example, a worker who notices that the supply of PPE is low at a particular workstation can pull out their phone and submit a report on the spot, even if PPE tracking isn’t part of their core job duties. At scale, this kind of behavior translates to a culture of safety throughout the organization.

When it emerges, a culture of safety is one of the most powerful ways to maintain compliance and promote worker safety. When safe practices are the default, the overall risk of incidents goes down.

Going Mobile to Boost Electrical Worker Safety and Facilitate Compliance

A mobile-first safety program can help organizations inspire ground-up safety behaviors while also giving top-down visibility into safety and compliance.

While considering a move to a mobile-first safety strategy, be sure to ask providers about their ability to customize their product (e.g., by creating new forms as needed) and their user-friendliness. For workers like many in electrical fields, ease of use is paramount. If they’re too complicated or cumbersome, adoption won’t happen, let alone the benefits that a mobile-first approach to safety can offer. 

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.