The same goes for how we manage and achieve our Health & Safety objectives. Your business requires your focused attention in order to consistently meet your goals and stay ahead of the competition. If you are still using inefficient systems, clunky paper documents, and placing high reliance on verbal communication, you may well find yourself having to eat your words, as Mr. Metcalfe did.
This is true regardless of your industry or how long you’ve been in business. But if you’ve had trouble staying on top of compliance, risk management, governance, and people management, it might be time to look into health and safety software.
As you consider whether health and safety software is right for your company, weigh up these Pros and Cons.
The Pros of OHS Software
You can manage your compliance consistently and sustainably
When it comes to health and safety, compliance is the goal. Compliance requires that policy and procedure is consistently and sustainably applied, and using compliance software is an effective way to maintain it. A compliance management platform will alert you to risks of non-compliance in real-time, and it can create reports to keep stakeholders informed and in control.
Your risk exposure will be reduced
Health and safety software solutions today come with a range of products, that allow you to manage risk, your employees, visitors, contractors, and even the general public will benefit from efficiency and consistency. Being able to manage every aspect of your business will protect the financial and legal security of your business.
Effective health and safety software allows you to be alerted to every incident, even if you’re out of the office. It will also ensure that the right people are involved with each incident, saving people who don’t need to be involved time and therefore your business money. When you use software that logs incident reports and safety policies straight from an App on your smartphone, you’ll always have the information you need to make informed, cost-efficient business decisions.
Effective people management
It’s difficult to keep track of all the details related to employees, contractors, suppliers, and third-party stakeholders. You need to track their training and certifications, manage injuries, illnesses, and rehabilitation, and handle all of these issues with grace and empathy. With employees working more and more remotely these days, performance management is also critical to the success of your business.
Health and safety software helps you to keep on top of all of these details. With all of this information in one place, you can easily access each person’s information. Employees will be properly trained and performance managed, which will make them feel more valued and will significantly increase the value of your business.
Your assets will be better protected
Health and safety software allows you to monitor, maintain, and report on your assets from one centralized dashboard. All your assets can be centrally managed, reported on and decisions can be made from consolidated, accurate information. This will significantly streamline your asset management and help you better protect your assets.
Governance is made simple
Keeping track of dates, goals, and who is doing what can be a major task for managers. It is also very time-consuming. Allow your health and safety software to help you solve governance issues. Some Health & Safety Software solutions have a task management solution that allows you to assign tasks and track governance, and you can watch the progress of these tasks from a central dashboard. Workflow control can also be used to ensure the right person does the right thing at the right time. This allows your employees to spend less time on administration and more time thinking!
Easy & remote access
Cloud-based software solutions allow information to be accessed at any time, from anywhere, provided there is internet accessibility. This allows the central storage of data, which removes the need for duplication and repetition. It removes inefficiency due to information delay and ensures that all involved are informed timorously and efficiently.
Cost
You may expect me to list this under the Con’s column as, like any other important component of your business, health and safety software isn’t free. Having said this, these solutions will remove administrative inefficiency from your business, making your employees available to add far more value than they currently do, and saving the costs of unnecessary incidents. If correctly applied, a good Health & Safety software solution will save your business significant time and money.
The Cons of Health and Safety Software
Misplaced expectations
At the end of the day, any software solution must follow the process and policy of the business. The efficiency and quality that the solution will deliver is dependent on the quality of that process and policy of the business, and also on the quality of information input. If the culture of the business is not one of compliance and risk management, no system will deliver as required.
Internet access
As most solutions are cloud-based, internet access is required for them to work.
Choosing the right Health & Safety Solution
You will invest time and money commissioning a Health & Safety solution, so it is important you select the solution that is best for your business. This may take you some time. Refer to our buyer’s guide to assist you with this important decision https://ovs-solutions.com/software-investment-guide/.
Conclusion
I apologize if the Con’s seem light, but the reality is there is very little downside to using Health & Safety software. You may also want to consider how your competitors and customers are operating today. More and more companies are adopting software solutions to assist with the efficient running of their businesses, and your stakeholders will expect you to be able to keep up. Does this resonate in your industry?
Companies like OVS Solutions (Pty) Ltd, the Africa Licensee of the award-winning Rapid Global Software, have been delivering Health & Safety software solutions for over 15 years. Their only business is the continued development and improvement of their software, to make sure that the solutions keep pace with the ever-changing landscape. All their solutions come with mobile apps.
OVS Solutions, the Africa Licensee of Rapid Global, also have a great support team who are available to assist with live demonstrations, user guides, and relevant information you may require. They will share their tips on how to best maximize user adoption and can help you deliver on your plan!