Risk Assessment & Lone Worker
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Introduction On a recent visit to a Pirana CMMS customers site I was introduced to a potential solution to the ever increasing pressure heaped on businesses to conform to regulations surrounding “Duty to Care” of its workers. This Pirana customer had found a couple of award winning applications that would help in this area, namely, Lone Worker and Dynamic Risk Assessment. The company that produce these applications is called Paragus Limited trading as “CheckedSafe” (http://www.checkedsafe.com). I have been asked on numerous occasions by customers about Risk/Dynamic Risk Assessments and if Pirana can handle that side of things. I have put forward some suggestions regarding this subject to Shire but have had no feedback or acknowledgment as to when that functionality will be incorporated into the existing Mobile Pro application. Recognising the gap in customer’s requirements and wanting to find a solution, it encouraged me to investigate further. This document is here to share my experience and to see if this is something that may also be of interest to you? I contacted Checkedsafe and spoke directly with the directors of the company Darran Harris, who is also a practicing solicitor and Gary Hawthorne a former transport manager. I explained where I saw the synergy between their products and Pirana, along with my vision of how I saw the products providing a combined solution for customers. They provided me with the two applications to test on different devices, checking all aspects of the mobile applications, the back office, including email notifications and reports. Lone Worker Is a very simple and intuitive stand-alone application that uses precise GPS to locate the worker/s on a heat map, tracking movements. In testing I did discover that this will work very well on an Android phone (even in 2g/low signal strength - tested on a Samsung Galaxy Note) and also on some Wi-Fi enabled tablet devices that have this sort of precise GPS technology onboard. The two tablets that I tested it on was a Google Nexus 7 which worked fine and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7-inch tablet both worked but I had to manually change the location settings to “High Accuracy” on the Samsung. If you take a trial of this application, I would suggest that you try it on your tablet devices to make sure it works, however, if you intend to use a phone/s, you should be fine! The timer is configurable from 15 minutes upwards, with an ability to extend or if you finish early, you can manually end. Email notifications are sent when a worker initiates and ends. There is a manual log in function and also an SOS button should they encounter serious or life threatening problems – this would also trigger an email should that button be pressed. The timer counts down and at the end of the predefined period, a full volume sounder (overriding the devices volume settings) will alert the worker to check in. There is a back office portal that is recording all these actions and also movement of that worker, this is registered and recorded on a heat map. The manager from the back office can also request a worker to respond, if they sense that they have been still for an extended period. The advantage of this app that it is relatively cheap to run as it does not require the use of an operator/call center to manage calls and alerts. It costs £1 per week per user, this I feel is good value for peace of mind that you are providing a good level of duty to care for your workers. The app currently is available to work on devices running the Android OS with precise GPS positioning. An iOS (Apple) version has already been written and will soon be published on the App Store Dynamic Risk Assessments & Lone Worker Applications
Transcript of Risk Assessment & Lone Worker
Introduction On a recent visit to a Pirana CMMS customers site I was introduced to a potential solution to the ever increasing pressure heaped on businesses to conform to regulations surrounding “Duty to Care” of its workers. This Pirana customer had found a couple of award winning applications that would help in this area, namely, Lone Worker and Dynamic Risk Assessment. The company that produce these applications is called Paragus Limited trading as “CheckedSafe” (http://www.checkedsafe.com). I have been asked on numerous occasions by customers about Risk/Dynamic Risk Assessments and if Pirana can handle that side of things. I have put forward some suggestions regarding this subject to Shire but have had no feedback or acknowledgment as to when that functionality will be incorporated into the existing Mobile Pro application. Recognising the gap in customer’s requirements and wanting to find a solution, it encouraged me to investigate further. This document is here to share my experience and to see if this is something that may also be of interest to you? I contacted Checkedsafe and spoke directly with the directors of the company Darran Harris, who is also a practicing solicitor and Gary Hawthorne a former transport manager. I explained where I saw the synergy between their products and Pirana, along with my vision of how I saw the products providing a combined solution for customers. They provided me with the two applications to test on different devices, checking all aspects of the mobile applications, the back office, including email notifications and reports. Lone Worker Is a very simple and intuitive stand-alone application that uses precise GPS to locate the worker/s on a heat map, tracking movements. In testing I did discover that this will work very well on an Android phone (even in 2g/low signal strength - tested on a Samsung Galaxy Note) and also on some Wi-Fi enabled tablet devices that have this sort of precise GPS technology onboard. The two tablets that I tested it on was a Google Nexus 7 which worked fine and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7-inch tablet both worked but I had to manually change the location settings to “High Accuracy” on the Samsung. If you take a trial of this application, I would suggest that you try it on your tablet devices to make sure it works, however, if you intend to use a phone/s, you should be fine! The timer is configurable from 15 minutes upwards, with an ability to extend or if you finish early, you can manually end. Email notifications are sent when a worker initiates and ends. There is a manual log in function and also an SOS button should they encounter serious or life threatening problems – this would also trigger an email should that button be pressed. The timer counts down and at the end of the predefined period, a full volume sounder (overriding the devices volume settings) will alert the worker to check in. There is a back office portal that is recording all these actions and also movement of that worker, this is registered and recorded on a heat map. The manager from the back office can also request a worker to respond, if they sense that they have been still for an extended period. The advantage of this app that it is relatively cheap to run as it does not require the use of an operator/call center to manage calls and alerts. It costs £1 per week per user, this I feel is good value for peace of mind that you are providing a good level of duty to care for your workers. The app currently is available to work on devices running the Android OS with precise GPS positioning. An iOS (Apple) version has already been written and will soon be published on the App Store
Dynamic Risk Assessments & Lone Worker Applications
Below are some screen captures for the Lone Worker mobile application and the back office: - For further information on this application visit; http://www.checkedsafeloneworker.com If you do decide to take this further, please mention my name, as I am trying to build a relationship with CheckedSafe for the Pirana community, so that we can collectively influence its future development.
Dynamic Risk Assessment As part of that duty to care towards your employees this app provides a level of protection to those who are carrying out unplanned work – So, when should a Dynamic Risk assessment be carried out? Unexpected and non-routine tasks (breakdowns/corrective work) When circumstances change whilst on site This application is currently embedded in the Vehicle Checking application but in a conversation with Darran and Gary of CheckedSafe, they have assured me that it will in the very near future (next few weeks) be broken down and simplified into a separate application that will only deal with the risk assessment side. The good news is that this application will work on any Wi-Fi only or 2/3/4g enabled devices and is available on both Android and iOS (Apple) platforms. The apps are available to download from the Play Store and the App Store, which also means that any updates are automatically deployed. In looking at how this application could fill the gap in this area of compliance with regard to the Pirana Mobile Pro application - in the Pirana app we have the Safety Notes attached to a task, it could be set so that you have to confirm that you have carried out a dynamic risk assessment before commencing work. The CheckedSafe Dynamic Risk Assessment app could be launched and when filling out the template you are asked for a Job Reference. This could be the Pirana “Work Order” number, linking the job to the assessment. The template question can be tailored by CheckedSafe to fit your requirements and photo evidence can also be captured. This is all returned to the CheckedSafe back office where you are able to view the results, run and email reports. Should an assessment fail, then an email notification can be sent to a designated person to notify them. Below are a series of screen shots to give you a feel of the simple end user interface as well as the back office application.
The same as the CheckedSafe Lone Worker app, the cost is £1 per week per user - again, I feel this is good value for peace of mind that you are providing a good level of duty to care for your workers. For further information on this application visit; http://www.checkedsaferiskassessment.com The applications are independent of each other (and Pirana), so you can have one solution without the other. CheckedSafe do offer a free trial before you commit to their terms. If you do decide to take this further, please don’t forget to say who you heard about it from, for the reasons previously mentioned and please, let me know how you are getting along with it, so that I can share that information with other interested parties. CheckedSafe contact number is: 01282 908429 If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me. Chris Lee – SystemQuest Ltd. 07817 848756 [email protected]
