To reduce accidents and risks, facilities management firms have to overcome culture – people may be fearful to tell managers when something has gone wrong if they are penalised when reporting incidents – besides providing tech to allow staff to report incidents.
Like most FM companies, London N1-based Salisbury had used a paper-based system to record safety and health incidents and near misses. Information was manually collated, analysed and processed.
Matt Peaty, QSHEC Director at Salisbury Group, said: “We would then turn the information into reports and manually review each of them for trends or recurrent problems. When we reviewed our approach, we noticed that it was taking a long time to process incidents and also that we had a low number of near misses being reported. Even in the most safety-orientated organisations, near misses and accidents still occur. Human beings make mistakes and sometimes assets can malfunction and threaten safety and health.
“We wanted to get an accurate picture of what was happening on our estates. Yet we did not want to dissuade people from taking the time to report near misses or incidents. So, we started by engaging with our staff base. Firstly, we learned that when employees are given the right tools and trained in how to use them, they are more enabled to excel in their roles. Compiling paper reports was very time consuming and most employees disliked the process. Secondly, we learned that providing them with a simpler and quicker reporting tool would improve take up. The old system took almost 15 minutes to complete and we wanted to reduce it to less than two minutes. Finally, we learned that it was important to remove the possibility for employees to make mistakes during the reporting process. Previously, around 40% of reports had to be sent back to the originator because there was a mistake or a lack of necessary information filled in.”
The FM firm commissioned LogIncident to tailor to specific requirements; the FM contractor replaced its old system with a bespoke app. For the full story visit http://salisburygroup.com/node/53.
The app has the FM firm reports cut the time taken to log accidents or near miss incidents from 15 to 20 minutes (when paper-based) to under 90 seconds (on the app), saving operational staff time ‘in the field’, and encouraging greater reporting. Because every smart phone Salisbury uses has an in-built camera, photographs of the context of the incident can be included in the safety and health report. The company adds that the app complements a changing staff base: ‘millennials’ are familiar and comfortable with using phone applications as part of their day-to-day working lives.
The firm’s guarding arm Salisbury Security Services Ltd holds SIA approved contractor status. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) in July is awarding Salisbury Group a Gold Award for excellence in health and safety practices.
