FEATURE


DO IT WITH DATA


Gary Escott, Managing Director of SiteZone Safety, discusses how making data- driven decisions is an effective way forward in safety provision – as shown by the 2020 pandemic.


MAKING INFORMED DECISIONS Since the start of the pandemic, data has played a vital


role in helping us to combat Coronavirus, especially regarding our own ‘safety’ behaviour. The daily briefings on the development and effects of COVID-19 in our communities, influence targeted health and safety solutions around the UK.


This illustrates poignantly, when you are navigating through risk, a best guess isn’t going to see you through a crisis. This is why myself and my team are committed to providing our safety solutions to clients firmly based on data collection. I believe this will be the future of health and safety implementation.


TARGETED SAFETY WITHOUT GUESSING When offering bespoke safety solutions to our clients,


a blanket approach is inadequate. Every client’s site assessment is unique. Every solution that we provide must be based on this and detailed consultations with site managers.


We also think it’s important to take on board the feedback from the workers who are going to utilise and benefit from our safety solutions directly. In our area of expertise, proximity warning, protecting workers from collision with machinery and vehicles is a very serious business. Therefore, it only makes sense, that you glean as much information from the people who are at risk and what their daily experiences of it are in their job. Workable technology must be able to deliver on that basis. There’s no point in having smart tech that doesn’t act intelligently and relevantly in the field.


HOW TO FIND OUT IF YOU HAVE A COLLISION


RISK PROBLEM ON SITE To acquire all this key information, we have ensured that our technology includes data capture capability. We use our telematic solution, OverSite, to great effect in preliminary assessment of a site, and subsequently, when fitting it out for long term anti-collision protection. OverSite records real time incidences of


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proximity safety breaches. There’s no estimation or guessing, but we provide hard evidence on personnel/ vehicle interaction. We can show that there’s a real need to address collision risk issues even before fitting out the entire site.


SAFETY BUY-IN USING FACTS When the risk assessment and the machine/personnel


fitout are complete, OverSite allows managers to study where the most common breaches occur continuously, set relevant KPIs and gauge behavioural changes relating to workers’/operators’ spatial awareness; the number of breaches will decrease the longer SiteZone and OverSite are used. It also allows for targeted safety training, where less time is wasted on approaches that don’t solve their issues.


Furthermore, C-suite directors are more likely to understand the direct benefit of investing in safety when it can be qualified, demonstrated and even quantified. For example, a reduction in accidents doesn’t encourage a litigious culture in your company. There’s reduced absenteeism. Workers feel more confident, especially if they are operating in high-risk jobs. There’s better skills retention because employees feel more valued. It’s cost effective because managers know where to invest their time and money to improve safety conditions.


In the long term, data and technology, especially in the safety realm, are significant assets in the workplace. They safeguard people as well as profit because the two are codependent.


Eventually, artificial intelligence may well be able to predict risk events, but until then, we can make changes, armed with data we capture right now. Knowing where the measurable dangers are, then you can apply safety practices that solve your problems and don’t create superfluous ones risking lives or wasting time and resources.


www.proximitywarning.com www.tomorrowshs.com


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