When it comes to the construction industry, projects involve multiple stakeholders and sites home to a range of machinery and fall risks. As such, construction companies shoulder a number of health and safety obligations. This is one of the reason's New Zealand's Watertight began using SiteApp, as part of their health and safety system.

"We place a very high emphasis on safety at Watertight due to the environments we work within. We work from roofs, below ground, we work from confined spaces – so we have to know what we are doing and we have to be doing it right every day," said Co-Owner and Operations Manager Ken Mackenzie of Watertight.

The New Zealand company is a staple part of the construction landscape and has years of experience providing complete building solutions to a range of commercial and residential clients. With up to 20 workers on the books at any one time, ensuring worker safety across all sites can be challenge. So when they turned to SiteApp, Ken was pleasantly surprised with the benefits on offer.

Paper problems: Moving to cloud-based safety software

With the new Health and Safety at Work Act, many companies are in need of a workforce that thinks independently about health and safety matters. Watertight is no different. But with the multitude of sites and the nature of the work, traditional safety systems have not been able to accomplish this. This is where SiteApp stepped in.

"We were doing a lot of paper-based processes every day, such as task analysis, site analysis and toolbox talks, but we were running into problems. For instance, if a worker travelled to a site but left a form behind, they would have to return to the office. This lead to delays as the workers could not start until the they had the required documentation," he said.

"With SiteApp, they only have to carry around an electronic tablet and every single aspect of their project is preloaded. Take for instance the MSDS sheets, both for the public and customer, are all in there and ready to use."

One of major advantages Watertight found when using SiteApp over their older paper-based system was how flexible and adaptable it was.

In the construction industry, no two projects are the same. Varying customer standards and needs, differences in building layouts as well as the different companies that may be on a site all come together to create novel and new health and safety challenges.

"SiteApp allows workers to have all the documentation they need in one source. If a job needs ropes, harnesses, if they are going to put in full restraint or full arrest, just by looking at SiteApp they know the health and safety specifics of the job before they even get out of the van."

Clear oversight through cloud computing

As SiteApp uses the cloud to store documents, managers and supervisors have the ability to check the progress of projects without needing to visit all the sites. 

"When I am in the office, I can't go to twelve sites at once. But what I can do, is look at web-based feature of SiteApp and see that they have completed, for instance, their task analysis and their JSSA. The oversight offered by SiteApp means I know when they have looked at the jobs, analysed the risks and implemented a strategy to meet them," Ken said.

"But it's not just me, the customers can also see what is being accomplished and it saves them a lot of time going back and forward, sending emails and rushing down to sites with essential data sheets."

SiteApp also allows key documentation to be emailed from any electronic device, meaning workers can keep clients in the loop with up-to-date information.

"Before SiteApp, I would routinely hear from customers: "Ken, I need the MSDS 7120 Blue, and you cannot start work before I receive it." That would have wasted an entire day as workers would go home or go back to the office. But now, when our customers need something, our workers imply punch it up on their tablet and email a form straight through to them."

SiteApp driving collaboration and worker engagement

For Watertight workers, jobs carry a number of risks. From undertaking projects in confined spaces to jobs that expose them to fall hazards, workers need a comprehensive safety system in place to ensure hazards are avoided, eliminated or mitigated.

One of the the major problems with this is having staff engage with the system. An organisation could have the most comprehensive system, comprised of a variety of dedicated processes, but if workers are not engaging with the system, processes and obligations – it's all for nothing.

The administration duties associated with paper-based systems were a major drain on time. It was also a cause of friction, as Watertight workers were not overly excited about their responsibilities. 

"Trying to ask a hairy builder to look after a few pieces of paper, it soon disappears in his van – typically becoming a napkin after a Burger King," he said.

"These are not the kind of people that look forward to keeping folders and doing paperwork. They would much rather have a tablet, take a picture and press a button. By streamlining the process, it not only helps us overcome challenges and better address risks, it also helps them understand what we do and why we do it."

SiteApp allows workers to become more involved in business health and safety processes. With real-time information, and easy access to managers, employees and contractors are in a much better position to engage the processes that keep them safe.

Moving forward with SiteApp

For organisations using older, less agile safety systems, the benefits of streamlining your processes can help drive down the costs of delay while increasing customer value. With less time spent looking for forms, workers can focus on what they are paid to do.

Partnering with SiteApp also means managers spend less time supervising, as they can now monitor sites remotely. If you would like to learn more about SiteApp's benefits and are interested with using SiteApp to streamline your processes, make sure you talk to a representative today.