Solving the 3 Biggest Challenges Faced by Health and Safety Professionals

Health, safety and environment (HSE) professionals most certainly have their work cut out. Every day they are responsible for maintaining a safe working environment and protecting your workers. That means assessing hazards, putting control measures in place and continually monitoring performance. However, there are certain aspects of safety management that HSE professionals find particularly challenging. What's more, trying to prioritise the most difficult tasks can become a challenge in itself. The danger, of course, is that you don’t manage to keep all the balls in the air, and something drops. If that happens, it poses a significant risk to both workplace health and safety and the business itself. Fortunately, there are systems that you can put in place to take the weight off, giving you more time to proactively manage the challenges while keeping everyone safe.

What Are the Biggest Challenges?

HSE professionals are responsible for putting the measures in place to protect worker safety as well as the liability and reputation of the business. While there will always be risk, it needs to be mitigated at every opportunity, and that poses some distinct challenges:

1. Managing Training Needs

Training is a vital part of safety management as it greatly reduces the risk of workplace accidents and is a necessary part of workplace compliance. However, while every worker within a business has training needs, they vary depending on their job, department and location. For companies without a health and safety software solution, training requirements are managed using spreadsheets, which are inefficient, time-consuming and error-prone. You may struggle to keep on top of who has completed training and who hasn’t and lose countless hours to face--to face sessions.

2. Meeting Compliance Requirements

For businesses to be compliant, they need to have a full understanding of safety legislation and industry regulations, and then have proof that these are being met. However, one of the biggest challenges for many HSE professionals is recordkeeping. With a mountain of paperwork full of registrations, licences and certifications, it is each to fall behind. What is even more common, is that, without the right system in place, verifying ongoing compliance and keeping on top of documentation renewal dates becomes a huge headache. The problem, of course, is that these records are the first port of call if your business is visited by an inspection officer.

3. Finding Enough Time

With countless workers and responsibilities to manage, HSE professionals can struggle to prioritise and manage their workload. If you decide to sit at your desk and trawl through multiple spreadsheets to verify workplace compliance, you can’t also be onsite monitoring worker activity. Meanwhile, if you have to spend hours onboarding new workers and delivering training, you have far less time to keep on top of ever-changing regulatory requirements. There is also the challenge of communicating with a huge volume of workers. You need to find time to ensure they have access to your safety policies and procedures and that they understand their safety obligations.

How Software Can Provide a Solution

HSE professionals sometimes veer away from software as they don’t want it to take value from their role. However, it is actually the opposite. By having the right software solution in place, you can distribute information, track and monitor compliance and review everything more efficiently. And, by doing that, you have precious time back to leverage your skills and make a real difference. Software can deliver several efficiencies by enabling you to:

• Deliver online training - instead of losing countless hours to face-to-face training in a classroom, online training delivers a flexible, consistent and standardised solution. This way, there is far less room for error and training can be completed before workers arrive onsite. Moreover, an online system will keep a record of when training has been completed and can send notifications if there are overdue sessions.

• Verify compliance instantly - by implementing the right software, you are able to store all compliance documentation in one place. Workers are able to upload documents, and everything can be easily tracked. In addition, notifications can be set up for when documentation is due for renewal, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.

• Automate manual processes - by having a system in place that can automate manual processes, a huge amount of time can be saved. Paperwork becomes a thing of the past, and you are able to manage and monitor training and workplace compliance at a glance.

By using software to implement the right processes, not only can you solve some of the most commonly faced challenges, but you can achieve so much more. With the proper support, you can improve risk management and help your business realise economic, legal and social benefits. And, all of that leads to a sustainable business that has the potential to grow.

For more information or a free demo on how Conserve can help provide a software solution to your problems, visit the Conserve website.

For over a decade, Conserve has helped organisations overcome contractor management challenges. We can help you develop a contractor management service that will be not only effective but will make your organisation safer, while minimising your overall risk. Request a demo now or visit the Conserve page for more great content.

For more information, call +61 2 8883 1501, visit www.conserve.com.au or email enquiries@conserve.com.au