Managing Workplace Risk with Gensuite’s Pandemic Risk Management Module

Protecting employees from workplace risks and exposures is a fundamental tenet of organizational health & safety. The ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic introduced new challenges in understanding how to best conduct pandemic exposure response, tracking, and contact tracing to manage and mitigate risks in the workplace while maintaining continuity of business operations.

Spotlight on Gensuite Subscriber: Perrigo

'Gensuite, a cloud-based compliance and management systems software provider, collaborated with their global subscriber group to identify key business process needs in order to develop a Pandemic Risk Management module that tracks pandemic events, logs key details such as exposure drivers, symptoms, testing, and quarantine dates, and workplace contact tracing options.'

Perrigo, a leading provider of Quality, Affordable Self-Care products and over-the-counter health and wellness solutions, was one of the first to participate in the development, pilot, and deployment of the module. Employing 11,000+ employees in 24 global sites, their need for a digital tracking system led to a collaborative development effort of the tools now used by 75 Gensuite subscriber companies.

Rob Somers, Senior Director, Global Environment Health & Safety, shared how the Perrigo Company is currently leveraging the Gensuite Pandemic Risk Management module to effectively and efficiently manage Covid-19 in the workplace across their enterprise.

How long has Perrigo used Gensuite?

Perrigo became a Gensuite subscriber in 2014.

How have you utilized the Gensuite platform?

'We use Gensuite for multiple functions spanning our global footprint, primarily compliance assurance, incident management, and concern & injury reporting, but also regulatory monitoring, audit assistance, safety, product stewardship, and permit and waste tracking.'

How did you hear about the Pandemic Risk Management Module and how long have you used it?

We started tracking employee-related Covid-19 information using a spreadsheet. We reached out to Gensuite in March after logging a few hundred cases over a two-three-week period and, along with another subscriber, partnered to discuss what a digital solution would look like to meet the tracking needs established within our spreadsheet. The conversations grew from there and we began using the tool in April.

How did Gensuite partner with you on the implementation?

The spreadsheet we were using was extensive, tracking all pieces of the employee's Covid journey — contact tracing, symptoms, and quarantine periods — so we wanted to include all those fields in the digital solution while meeting GDPR security concerns.

We were heavily involved in the design conversations, working with Gensuite experts to determine what data we needed to capture and what reporting metrics we needed. We were essentially trying to manage everything about the person's case to illustrate their story — what locations were involved, was sanitization needed, were there other exposures involved — to determine how we could not only track those aspects but link them together to identify a “patient zero” for a big picture of the exposure.

How has Perrigo leveraged the functionality to mitigate and reduce risk?

Anytime someone calls in for something Covid-related, their information goes into this module. With close to 7,000 records in the database, that alone has helped us manage risks significantly. The benefit of being able to link exposures together for contact tracing has been instrumental, not to mention the meta information we capture, such as if sanitation was required, really paints a clear picture of the events that took place.

What benefits have you seen from implementing the tool?

We've seen many benefits, from streamlining and reducing the amount of time gathering data, to increased consistency, and overall case management. One great part is being able to see clusters of outbreaks to determine areas of concerns at a certain location or shift, then analyzing those trends to implement corrective actions.

We also got our teams involved — HR, nurses, medical professionals, and site leads — to track cases quickly. We talk about case counts daily, pull data on employees out of work or returning, and even look at the epidemiological aspect to create better guidance around testing practices. These benefits have helped us see continuous improvement and get people back to work faster without putting more risk on a facility.

How has your leadership team responded to this solution?

Leadership is really involved reviewing data. Our Chief Medical Officer, Board of Directors, and CEO are all using the information to talk about our Covid response — from developing a return to work policy to frameworks for inspections around routine controls.

Learn more about Gensuite's Pandemic Response Module and join their Covid-19 Executive Workgroup to stay up-to-date on available tools and resources.