How Technology is Transforming Incident Prevention in Manufacturing

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August 13, 2019

Resource: Blog Industry: Industrial
Tags: Vector EHS Management

Vector EHS Management Software is proud to join the Manufacturing Alliance of the Greater Philadelphia Region in hopes of providing local organizations a more effective way to manage their environmental health and safety (EHS) programs.

Since 2004, Vector EHS (formerly IndustrySafe) has been based in Philadelphia offering its safety management software to give every EHS manager the resources they need to keep their workers safe.

As technology continues to develop and improve all other aspects of our lives, how we manage worker safety should be no different. Here are three ways we’ve seen manufacturing companies transform their safety program with safety software.

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1. Proactive Prevention using Past Incidents

Past incidents are some of the best predictors of future ones. When an incident occurs, you’re sure to implement changes and fixes to prevent it from happening again. However, there may be a larger root cause that is hard to notice when you focus on one incident a time.

Instead, you want to look at multiple incidents across long periods of time. This will show if you if there is an underlying common thread or trend that you may not have realized initially.

For this reason, it’s critical you have the ability to summarize and evaluate all your past incidents at a glance. This is why we’ve developed an easy to use EHS incident management software that does exactly that.

You’ll want to regularly review reports that present clear incident information in order to notice changes in trends before it’s too late. That’s why our reports can be set up to be automatically emailed to you on a set schedule that is most convenient for you.

Whether it’s with charts, graphs, or lists of the most at-risk locations, you’ll have the opportunity to easily see where your safety program needs improvement. After all, in the words of Winston Churchill, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

safety manager Fran looking at safety software dashboard

2. Connecting All Areas of Safety

In addition to evaluating past issues, incident prevention really begins with regular day-to-day activities. From recurring machine inspections to employee safety training, each of these activities are designed to prevent potential incidents.

If one of these activities gets overlooked, it can put your entire workforce in danger. Ideally, you want to be involved in ensuring all of these activities are being carried out properly on a regular basis.

Of course, you don’t have the time to be checking on every single employee to make sure they are performing their duties. So how do you find a balance between the two?

Safety management software solves this issue by bringing multiple areas of safety under one roof for easy review and evaluation. Being able to connect and monitor all your safety silos at once is the most effective method for preventing incidents.

Vector EHS software gives you several options for monitoring all safety activities across your entire safety program. Whether it’s with our Dashboard of key performance indicator metrics, or summary screens of safety actives, you’ll be able to see the status of your safety program at a glance.

Furthermore, if performance isn’t up to standards, you need to know where the weak spots in your safety process lie. When all your reported manufacturing hazards, corrective actions, inspections, and training history are in the same centralized system it’s easy to look up what went wrong.

When safety activities are stored in one central system, you’ll quickly see how they collectively work together to prevent potential incidents.

incidents by location report

3. Automating Tedious Tasks

There never seems to be enough hours in the day, and the fact is some duties have a bigger impact on worker safety than others. You don’t want to ignore any of your managerial duties, but you also want to be able to focus on the most pressing matters.

The solution is to make tedious EHS administration easier by automating many tedious and time-consuming tasks with safety software.

IndustrySafe comes with email alerts that automatically send the most critical EHS information to the appropriate parties. This is especially helpful if an incident occurs, and various managers and groups across plants need to be notified.

Such alerts can also be set up as reminders for employees who have open tasks, inspections, and upcoming or overdo training. Automating follow-up helps ensure these items are being carried out, in addition to freeing up some of your schedule.

With all this extra time you can direct your attention to the areas of your safety program that best prevents incidents. You won’t realize how much time is spent on these administrative tasks until you spend an extra hour analyzing your safety training program.

Technology continues to enrich our lives and make everyday operations easier. Safety software is no exception, as it offers many ways for you to improve your safety program and prevent incidents.

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