Inspection and safety compliance management (ISCM) is extremely important and an increasingly harder process to manage. Organizations typically have goals to increase workplace safety, reduce liability, and save money, but traditional pen and paper ISCM makes it extremely difficult to accomplish those goals.

Like with many traditional processes, traditional ISCM is riddled with guesswork, human error and stacks of paperwork. I like comparing ISCM to accounting. In accounting, you have internal accountants, external auditors and a governing body that oversees the process. In the safety world, there is a combination of internal company inspectors and safety managers, third party inspectors and certifiers, and governing bodies who audit your processes.

Accounting, however, has largely been digitized with various software packages. Rarely will you see accountants doing their work with pencil and paper. I truly believe that the time has come for safety managers and inspection providers to use electronic methods to manage safety compliance. To automate the safety process and increase workplace safety, safety managers should consider adopting electronic inspection and safety compliance systems.

Traditional ISCM Problems

Here are some common problems that safety managers face every day.

Asset Identification: The first step in safety compliance is identifying a piece of equipment. Traditionally, serial numbers are visually read by inspectors. Serial numbers can be read and recorded incorrectly or become dirty and unreadable. If an asset is improperly identified, subsequent inspections, no matter how properly done, are useless.

Inspection Scheduling: Organizations have thousands of pieces of equipment, from rigging to fall protection. Some equipment requires daily inspections, some need annual inspections and some require recertification. Managing this process quickly becomes unmanageable.

Compliance Guesswork: Safety compliance is a complicated matter. Knowing which inspection criteria to use on which piece of equipment is a nightmare. There are multiple government regulations, corporate policies and manufacturer’s suggestions that a safety manager has to keep in mind.

Time Consumption: Identifying an asset, figuring out which inspection criteria is appropriate, recording the inspection, and then storing the inspection is an extremely time consuming process. An inspection doesn’t stop on the field; the backend administration and storage is where a bulk of the time is spent.

Unmanageable Paperwork: To properly manage safety compliance, a safety audit trail must be maintained for each and every piece of equipment. This includes internal inspections, third party inspections, certifications and manufacturer’s documentation. Managing all this paperwork from different parties, storing and filing it properly becomes unmanageable very quickly. The biggest problem is presenting all this paper work to a government auditor or, even worse, during an accident investigation. Not having a quick way to access and view the status of your safety data is a huge problem inherent to traditional ISCM.

The Solution: Electronic ISCM

Like with many traditional processes, software is revolutionizing the way safety compliance is managed. Companies are now using new electronic methods to completely automate safety compliance. Electronic inspection and safety compliance management is a paradigm shift.

The vast difference between email and mail is the difference that electronic ISCM provides organizations over traditional methods. The following sections will walk through how traditional safety compliance management is changed using electronic ISCM.

Electronic identification: The first step in safety compliance is asset identification. Instead of reading a serial number, assets are now being tagged with either barcodes or radio frequency identification (RFID) chips. This allows assets to be identified without human intervention, completely electronically. Not only are you saving time when identifying a piece of equipment, human error is eliminated.

Inspection – Using mobile computers: The basic step in all safety management is an inspection. Instead of using a clipboard and pen, handheld computers and mobile phones are being used to completely digitize the process. A handheld computer scans an electronic tag and the asset is identified. Right away the handheld will display the inspection history and if the asset is safe to use.

If an inspection is to be done, the software on the handheld will tell the inspector exactly which inspection standard to use and guide the user through the process. A user literally clicks through inspection criteria with minimal, if not zero, keyboard input. Not only is the entire inspection process paperless, all the compliance guesswork is eliminated. The mobile software guides you through the entire inspection and safety compliance process for that piece of equipment.

Safety Documentation – Using the Web: Being able to present safety data in a timely manner and store it without backend administration is one of the key features to an electronic ISCM system. After an inspection is conducted with a mobile computer, all the data is automatically transferred to a secure database or website either in real time or when docked and synced. All documentation, certifications and reports are generated automatically. All backend administration, scanning of paper work and manual data entry is completely eliminated. You never have to worry about keeping backups of your documents or whether they were accurately recorded. Possibility of human error is drastically reduced as is any duplication of work.

Compliance Status – Be Ready, 24/7: With electronic ISCM, your organization is always ready to present safety data. If you need to look up the audit trail for a piece of equipment, all you do is scan or key in the electronic ID into the system and your complete audit trail will be displayed instantaneously. A process that traditionally takes up to two weeks is now done with a few clicks.

This following summarizes the advantages of electronic ISCM.

Step Electronic Process

Identification: Using a scanner, the equipment is identified instantly by scanning the chip or barcode.

Advantages:

1. Unique serial number is read automatically;
2. No chance for human error; and
3. Quick identification.

Inspection

Inspections are done electronically - on the web or with handheld computers.

 Advantages:
1. Completely paperless – no more manual entry;
2. Customized list of recommendations and deficiencies; and
3. Inspections are conducted via digital checklists clicks .

Reporting

Like online banking, certificates and inspection data are held securely on the web.

Advantages:

1. Access to inspection reports 24/7 over the web;

2. Data is secure and backed up daily.

Electronic inspection and safety compliance management is a tool that should be on all safety managers’ mind. Safety compliance is extremely hard to manage; whether you work at a utility company or mining site, safety managers have the same obstacles and problems to overcome. Electronic ISCM increases efficiency, reduces liability and saves money, but most importantly, creates safer workplaces. FSM

Somen Mondal is CEO and co-founder of N4 Systems a provider of inspection and safety compliance management. He is a regular speaker at conferences and trade shows, and sits on the board of the Crane Certification Association of America. For more, go to www.n4systems.com.