When it comes to workplace safety, you can never get too comfortable or complacent. You need to be constantly looking for ways to improve your approach to safety.
If you are still using a pen and paper system, replacing this with a more effective system is an easy way to improve your workplace safety. Read on to learn about the shortcomings of pen and paper safety systems and alternative solutions you can use.
Why Pen And Paper Are Ineffective
When you are using a pen and paper system to report safety incidents and manage safety in the workplace, you leave more room for human error.
For example, a document can get passed to many individuals before it reaches its final destination. This can cause problems because there is typically only one copy of the document. If it is lost or given to the wrong person, it can easily fall between the cracks. As a result, it becomes almost impossible to ensure you’re addressing every single safety issue and document.
Moreover, there is no digital paper trail you can use to track the document. This compromises the tracking of documents and follow-up actions in a pen and paper system.
Another major problem with a pen and paper system is that it limits the accessibility of safety-related documents. Safety-related documents like safety audits, observations, inspections and incidents would be kept in folders in an office. This means that to access one of these important documents, you need to know that it exists and physically go to where it is being stored.
In practice, this usually means that only the people who are directly involved in and working with safety-related matters are the only ones who know about them.
This is problematic as it contributes to a lack of organisational transparency when it comes to safety issues. Workers need to be clued up on issues of workplace safety as well as the standard safety precautions they need to follow in order to create a safe work environment for everyone.
What's The Solution?
The best way to avoid the problems that come with a pen and paper safety system is to use a good digital alternative. A digital safety management tool enables you to create and track safety specific actions like safety audits, observations, inspections and incidents.
This tool must be accessible to everyone in the organisation. This ensures that employees at all levels can access important safety information and report safety concerns. As a result, safety managers will be able to monitor safety throughout the organisation more easily and address incidents without delay.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes, improving your workplace safety is as simple as changing your safety system from one that uses pen and paper to a good digital one. A good digital system will decrease your risk of human error, making it easier to submit and access safety-related actions. If you have not yet adopted a digital system, now is the time!
If your organisation is looking for a 360° safety management tool to involve all employees, service providers and external stakeholders to improve the quality of your operations, have a look at the 30-day free trial of the Falcony Platform:
We are building the world's first operational involvement platform. Our mission is to make the process of finding, sharing, fixing and learning from issues and observations as easy as thinking about them and as rewarding as being remembered for them.
By doing this, we are making work more meaningful for all parties involved.
More information at falcony.io.
