How EHS Software Solutions Can Revolutionize Workplace Safety

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the number of preventable workplace injuries hit 490,000 for the manufacturing industry in 2022.

While this represents a steep decline in incidence rates since OSHA was created, there’s no question that more can be done to avoid preventable workplace injuries.

EHS software solutions are the latest weapon in the fight, delivering new ways to prevent and respond to incidents that put employees—and the business—at risk.

Today we’re looking at how EHS software solutions can revolutionize workplace safety, from proactively identifying trends to accelerating investigations to empowering employees to take a leading role in safety.

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Accelerating Incident Investigations

Traditional EHS processes often require extensive in-person meetings to discuss and investigate incidents. Without the ability to pull up records of previous incidents and investigations, teams also waste time on duplicated efforts. In some instances, solutions have already been developed, or proposed solutions may have failed in the past.

The result is an increased lag time between incidents and their resolution, driving up risk while leaving employees to think problems aren’t getting fixed. This, in turn, has a detrimental effect on team morale and safety culture.

EHS software solutions change the game by providing built-in root cause analysis tools that allow you to:

• Link EHS incidents to root cause analysis investigations
• Utilize different root cause analysis tools such as 8D, 5 Whys and more, depending on the incident
• Eliminate manual signature collection and minimize in-person meetings
• Collaborate on investigations efficiently
• Pull up relevant data on previous incidents and trends

Creating a Corrective Action Accountability Loop

Fixing problems in a timely manner isn’t just best practice—it also has a make-or-break impact on safety culture. When people see problems languishing, they ultimately think that leadership doesn’t truly care about their wellbeing, hurting your credibility and efforts around creating a culture of safety.

Paper-based corrective action processes often lead to a backlog of open corrective actions, which creates risk for employees and the company. Not only does this leave you open to repeat incidents, it also leaves you vulnerable during an audit or inspection.

With an EHS software solution, manufacturers can create closed-loop accountability around tracking and completing corrective actions with the ability to:

• Track corrective actions by risk so you can prioritize high-risk corrective actions
• Link EHS incidents, investigations, and corrective actions for a complete compliance history
• Reduce corrective action closure times with automated routing, task assignments, and signatures
• Monitor open corrective actions on dashboards configured to the user’s role and responsibilities
• Pull in data on other impacted areas to facilitate preventive action

Generating Data to Deliver Deeper Insights

Lack of visibility into incident trends represents a blind spot in effective EHS management in many organizations. Collecting incident data in EHS software solutions empowers companies with more data and more insights that they can use over time to drive safety improvements.

Specifically, EHS incident data can provide important data points to develop leading indicators that predict where you’re most likely to have future problems.

Lagging indicators are metrics that describe past performance, and are often the focus of EHS programs. These include metrics such as incidence rate and days away from work. Leading indicators, on the other hand, are predictive metrics that correlate with leading metrics and give you an idea of where you’re headed.

For example, you may find that a spike in near-misses in a given work area precedes a rise in safety incidents. By tracking near-misses as a leading indicator, you can take proactive steps to prevent incidents when you see near-misses tick up.

Leading indicators are unique to the company and based on correlations identified in historical data. Examples of leading EHS indicators in manufacturing include:

• Number of open corrective actions
• Percent training completion
• Number of near-misses
• Number of high-risk audit findings

Streamlining OSHA and ISO Compliance

Too often, the role of an EHS professional is dominated by paperwork, which leaves little time for more strategic priorities. On top of that, paper processes leave room for compliance items to fall through the cracks, leaving a less-than-ideal impression on ISO auditors and OSHA inspectors.

The truth is that true improvements in EHS performance don’t come from just sitting behind a desk. EHS professionals need to be able to spend time on the manufacturing floor capturing observations, having conversations about safety, and proactively pursuing value-added improvement projects.

Here the role of EHS software solutions can be truly revolutionary by freeing up time and resources while strengthening compliance and reducing incidents and inspection findings. Key capabilities to evaluate include functions around:

• Automated incident management with configurable workflows for capturing incident data, classifying incidents and routing them for resolution
• Auto-populated OSHA 300 forms and logs based on incident data for streamlined submission to OSHA
• Document management tools to centralize safety processes, protocols, and policies
• The ability to assign and track training by role, group, or department, as well as compiling all records in a secure repository for easy access during audits and inspections

 Integrating Safety Processes

Disparate quality and EHS processes are a major contributor to inefficiency in organizations today. Given the labor shortage in manufacturing—which is expected to persist for years—companies need to find ways to do more with less.

EHS software solutions help manufacturers do this by linking interrelated quality and safety processes such as:

• EHS incident management
• Document and SOP management
• Training management
• Audit management
• Change control
• Risk management

Automatically launching corrective actions from EHS incident reports is one example, as discussed above. In many cases, corrective actions may require additional training or SOP updates, which can also be initiated in response to incidents. Companies can add new audit questions, trigger change control activities and monitor risk, creating a streamlined process that eliminates manual handoffs and added tasks.

Reducing Risk

Reducing risk is a key concern for OSHA regulators as well as compliance with standards such as ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety. The problem is, that without a way to systematically track risk, manufacturers have little way of knowing whether they are addressing problems effectively.

Using integrated risk management tools within EHS software solutions, organizations can launch a risk assessment at any step in the process to gain greater visibility into risk. For example, risk level can be determined for incidents, audit findings, and corrective actions. This allows teams to address these events by risk rather than some arbitrary measure, such as the date it was entered in the system.

Leaders can also monitor risk on configurable dashboards to ensure high-risk items are managed in a timely manner. By keeping this important measure front and center, companies are better positioned to protect workers while minimizing compliance issues and costs.

Fostering a Culture of Safety

Creating a culture of safety has long been touted as central to meaningfully improving workplace safety outcomes. The challenge, however, is translating what is often a vague goal into tangible practices. When safety culture is no more than an empty slogan, however, it only serves to hurt team morale and leadership’s credibility.

Manufacturers can use EHS software solutions to provide a structured approach to building a culture of safety. In doing so, companies can:

• Demonstrate a commitment to safety: One of the most important elements of safety culture is the belief that problems will be resolved. By preventing issues from falling through the cracks, companies can deliver on this promise and show employees that you actually care for their wellbeing.
• Raise awareness of safety issues: With more visibility into safety issues such as incidents, near-misses and hazards, leadership can raise awareness around safety for the entire team.
• Make safety a habit: Effectively capturing, tracking, and managing issues with EHS software makes safety a daily habit. Greater visibility into safety also creates opportunities to have more conversations about safety with your team on a regular basis.
• Empower employees: EHS software solutions empower employees to take an active role in safety efforts by giving them tools to share their perspective, such as logging hazards, near-misses, and incidents. When people feel they have the power to change things for the better, they are naturally more invested in ensuring safe behavior both for themselves and others.

Reducing Costs and Reputational Damage

The National Safety Council estimates that workplace injuries cost employers, workers and society $167 billion in 2021. Companies can face millions of dollars in fines for workplace safety incidents, as well as reputational damage from having their name splashed across news stories and OSHA press releases.

Strengthening EHS compliance with EHS software solutions helps minimize these risks and costs, such that avoiding even one major incident can more than pay for the initial investment.

The result is an enhanced reputation for protecting workers, greater profitability, and lower costs overall.

Conclusion

Safety performance has far-reaching implications for manufacturers, impacting their ability to retain workers, deliver quality products, and stay competitive in the global marketplace.

EHS software solutions can revolutionize workplace safety by accelerating investigations and corrective actions and providing greater visibility over safety. Equally important, they simplify compliance and free up time for safety leaders to pursue proactive safety improvements that help them truly get to the next level in safety performance.

Download a free brochure on AssurX EHS Incident Management

About the Author

Stephanie Ojeda is Director of Product Management for the Life Sciences industry at AssurX. Stephanie brings more than 15 years of leading quality assurance functions in a variety of industries, including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, food & beverage, and manufacturing.