LABORATORY INFORMATICS
Deconstructing the disconnect: workforce wellbeing and EHS
Cority’s Jessica Shields discusses the role of technology in supporting healthcare, with a particular focus on health and safety
If you’re involved in championing a workplace health and safety programme, you’ll know that safety excellence is about more than simply preventing incidents and injuries. Increasingly, organisations are under pressure to use operational excellence as another mechanism to ensure workplace safety. This means that companies need to find new ways to track trends, manage compliance and keep up with ever-changing regulatory requirements, while ensuring this critical data is safe-guarded. Recent research from Antea Group
found that 75 per cent of employees say feeling personally safe and secure in the workplace is really important to them. However, 72 per cent were largely unaware of their firms’ environment, health and safety (EHS) function. This illustrates a big disconnect between a company’s EHS practices and their employees. Nevertheless, this presents an even bigger opportunity for EHS leaders to close the gap by leveraging technology. It begins with deconstructing the disconnect, looking at the inefficiencies they currently face when it comes to managing workplace health and safety programmes, of which there are three.
Inefficiency 1: lack of automated workflows In most organisations, the bulk of business processes are documented, printed and stored in a binder that is not easily accessible. The problem with paper-based systems is that frontline employees are responsible for completing forms that then require manual input, and are often subject to transcription errors. Physical methods of documentation also require huge volumes of file storage which need to be secured and archived. Reporting for OSHA and other
regulatory agencies is cumbersome due to a lack of automation, making it difficult to identify trends and adhere to strict guidelines. These processes are often archaic legacy systems that are
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ineffective in terms of cost and time. For frontline employees in healthcare or chemical manufacturing, the ability to automate simple programmes such as flu clinics – by rapidly scheduling, capturing and reporting on immunised employees, for example – can save huge sums in unscheduled leave. Automating medical monitoring can be hugely beneficial for personnel involved in lab or radioactive environments, fit-for-duty initiatives or return-to-work programmes, as this may provide greater visibility into an employee or contractor’s health at all times, it can further promote employee wellness and safety.
Maintaining the security and privacy of this data is an additional ‘high risk/ high exposure’ function to consider. Thinking back to the WannaCry cyber attacks in May, the attackers scrambled organisations’ booking systems and records, demanding a ransom payment of $300-$600 to re-enable access. With that in mind, it is more important than ever to ensure your organisation’s data is just as safe as your frontline employees.
Inefficiency 3: escalating costs In addition to the financial and reputational costs outlined above, total worker health operations continue to be perceived as a cost centre. Employees and budgets are stretched, while costs towards managing increasing regulatory compliance and employee safety standards continue to climb. Robust EHS programmes, especially those delivered through SaaS (Software- as-a-Service) platforms, are key to driving workplace efficiencies and increasing employee engagement. An integrated EHS platform allows a
reduction in operating costs by eliminating the need for multiple vendors. All data is collected and housed in a single database to support rapid reporting and decision- making, with data security resources and expertise managed in a single solution. Failure to operationalise EHS
Inefficiency 2: high risk equates to high exposure To shift from managing risk to removing risk, many organisations within regulated industries are now utilising cloud-based technology to proactively identify risk. For employees that are often subject to slips, trips and falls, enabling them to capture this data in real-time then allows EHS professionals to identify patterns and put controls in place to eliminate this risk. For sanitation workers, there’s a need
for clear documentation on how to limit exposure to toxic substances. On the environmental side, there’s a need to reduce and dispose of bio-hazardous and radioactive waste. This includes systems to track lab packs and other waste, allowing you to manage compliance, while also being able to immediately report progress back to regulators.
programmes at the highest level means that companies can’t successfully achieve their Corporate Sustainability Responsibility efforts. But ultimately it’s about the people who work for that company. The 72 per cent of employees highlighted earlier, those unaware of their workplace’s EHS function, want – and need – reassurance that they will return home at night with the same level of wellbeing as they arrived at work in the morning. In the end, companies, as well as the communities they serve, will be better, more inviting places to live and work, as the result of smart, balanced, and effective health and safety systems.
www.cority.com
Jessica Shields is a product marketing manager at Cority
October/November 2017 Scientific Computing World
25
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