Does Your Firm Really Need Health and Safety Software (And What it Means)?

Dispelling some myths about health and safety software in 2018

Until very recently, nobody seemed interested in the health and safety software niche. The industry has lagged behind the technology used in other industries until EHS happened. Now, a bubbling technology niche, HS and QualityOne – Quality Management Software is taking on an increasingly high-stakes concern: environmental, health and safety management.

According to the UK’s Health and Safety Executive, about 144 workers lost their lives in a workplace in the year 2017/2018. Another 100 members of the public were killed due to work-related activities within the same period.

In the US, 2016 saw 5,190 workers lose their lives on the job—a rise from 4,821 workplace fatalities in 2014.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) found more than 35% of all deaths were recorded from fatal falls in the construction industry.

The grim reports emphasize the need for health and safety measures that can curb fatalities and instead promote safe and healthy workplaces that encourage productivity. And using health and safety software at the workplace can help with that.

Do you Need Health and Safety Software?

 

But some companies have some reservations for using health and safety software, some of which include:

  1. Initial setup and continuing costs
  2. Knowing how to choose the best software and vendors
  3. Training challenges
  4. Struggling to find suitable use cases/or a solid case for EHS software
  5. Operations and maintenance expertise

But do you actually need it?

  1. It Helps with Compliance

More and more countries are moving into a new paradigm of encouraging and enforcing environmental, health and safety measures to help protect workers, the environment, and the public.

Employers are sacrificing as much as $62 billion in non-EHS compliance penalties, and you do not want to be a part of that club.

Choosing good software for the job can help keep your health and safety manager or team aware of an approaching audit, safety plan item, and tasks, as well as an implementation deadline, keeping you abreast as far as health and safety goes.

  1. You’ll Attract Better Employees

Three out of four employees surveyed in an EHS Research by Antea Group said feeling personally safe and secure at their workplace was ”really important” to them.

About 50% 0f the employees also said they cared about a company’s energy and water conservation and recycling efforts. The latter also said they cared to know whether the company actually cared about their safety and that of the environment.

Implementing a sound EHS program using EHS software can help attract and retain EHS-conscious employees.

  1. You Can Increase Customer Loyalty

The same way employees are concerned about their workplace safety, customers are concerned about the health and safety of products and services provided to them by a certain company.

Non-EHS compliant companies are likely to suffer decreased customer retentions when the customers decide to work with firms implementing sustainable and mechanisms to deliver healthy and safe goods and supply chain.

  1. You’ll Increase Employee Engagement

Well-engaged employees equal an uber-productive workforce that is motivated to know the company they work for cares about their health and wellness.

However, The EHS Research found about 43% of employees want to give feedback to the EHS department but 45% do not feel free to tell either a supervisor or colleague about potentially unsafe behaviors.

You can use health and safety software integrated with a survey function to collect the feedback anonymously and in a way that does not encourage abuse of the program.

These are just some of the benefits of such software.

Have you used EHS software before and how has that worked out for you?

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