Empowering EHS Professionals Through Mobile Technology – Lessons from Three Industry Leaders
Monica Patel
August 14, 2024
This article explores how three companies from different industries overcame significant EHS challenges by adopting mobile technology. Their experiences offer valuable lessons for any organization looking to enhance its EHS&S performance through mobile solutions.
Streamlining Incident Reporting for an EPC Contractor
The Challenge: A leading EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) contractor in the energy sector faced significant challenges with its incident reporting processes. The company relied heavily on manual tasks, which led to inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and communication breakdowns. Multiple versions of documents were often circulating across various locations, making it difficult to ensure accurate and timely reporting. The company needed a streamlined process that would eliminate these inefficiencies and ensure clear communication across the business.The Solution: The contractor turned to an EHS software platform, KPA Flex, integrating a mobile solution that replaced the cumbersome manual processes with a more streamlined, digital workflow. The platform’s mobile capabilities allowed employees to report incidents in real time, reducing the risk of miscommunication and ensuring that all stakeholders had access to the most current information.
The Results: With the new system in place, the company achieved significant cost savings and gained deeper insights into safety trends across its operations. These insights have allowed the company to focus its efforts on predicting and mitigating safety risks more effectively. One of the company’s data analysts described the ability to analyze safety trends in real time as simply “incredible,” highlighting the transformative impact of mobile technology on their operations.
Enhancing Safety Reporting for a Global Communications Provider
The Challenge: A global communications design-build and maintenance services provider faced difficulties in understanding, tracking, and reporting safety deficiencies across its operations. Without an EHS software solution in place, the company struggled to mitigate risks, decrease total reportable incidents, and ensure that high-risk activities were adequately managed.The Solution: By implementing an EHS platform with integrated mobile capabilities, the company was able to streamline its reporting processes, improve efficiency, and gain better visibility into safety deficiencies. The mobile solution (KPA Flex) allowed for real-time reporting and tracking, enabling the company to ensure that high-risk activities were monitored and managed effectively.
The Results: The results were striking. The company reduced its total reportable incidents from seven in 2019 to just one in 2020. This dramatic reduction in incidents also led to significant decreases in claims costs. The division safety manager noted that the trending graphs were “just incredible,” underscoring the power of mobile technology to drive real, measurable improvements in safety performance.
Empowering Field Employees for an Oil Services Company
The Challenge: An oil services company needed a user-friendly platform that would allow its field employees to manage incidents in real time and facilitate the communication of important safety messages across the organization. The company’s dispersed workforce and high-risk environment made it essential to have a mobile solution that was both easy to use and highly effective.The Solution: The company integrated KPA's mobile EHS application into its field operations, providing employees with a tool that was simple to use and quick to adopt. The mobile platform enabled field employees to report incidents, access policy updates, and push out safety messages in real time, ensuring that critical information was always up to date.
The Results: The mobile solution not only saved time through automation but also significantly improved the company’s overall safety strategy. The increased efficiency and real-time communication capabilities have helped the company secure and maintain more business. The employee development manager noted that being able to show customers the progress of an investigation and its outcome has made a “huge difference” in customer relations.
Key Challenges and Solutions in Mobile EHS Implementation
These case studies illustrate the common challenges that companies face in EHS&S management, such as the need for real-time reporting, data integration, and compliance tracking. Mobile technology, particularly through a comprehensive EHS platform, has proven to be an effective solution to these challenges, offering companies the ability to streamline processes, improve safety outcomes, and enhance overall operational efficiency.
When considering the adoption of mobile EHS technology, it is essential to:
- Articulate Your Challenges: Clearly define the specific EHS challenges your organization faces.
- Select the Right Solutions: Choose mobile solutions that are tailored to address these challenges effectively.
- Measure Success: Regularly assess the effectiveness of the solutions to ensure they are delivering the desired outcomes.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Mobile Technology in EHS&S
As technology continues to evolve, mobile solutions such as KPA Flex will play an increasingly critical role in EHS&S management. The ability to access and report information in real-time, even in remote or high-risk environments, will be key to enhancing safety and sustainability efforts. Companies that embrace these technologies will be better positioned to create safer workplaces, improve sustainability practices, and maintain a competitive edge in their industries.Mobile technology is more than just a convenience; it is a strategic tool that empowers EHS professionals to drive meaningful change within their organizations. By learning from the experiences of these industry leaders, other companies can apply similar strategies to overcome their own EHS challenges and achieve their safety and sustainability goals.
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About the Author
Monica Patel
KPA
Monica Patel is a software product manager with a robust foundation in engineering and operations. Her diverse experience across energy, technology and logistics industries underscores her commitment to utilizing technology as a catalyst for resolving intricate challenges and fostering both business and safety success across various domains. Passionate about enhancing operational efficiency and safety standards, Monica helps drive innovation to benefit all users of KPA Flex.