“Expect the unexpected”—the golden rule for running a successful business.
In terms of workplace safety, that means looking out for accidents waiting to happen and nipping them in the bud.
But let’s admit: it’s tricky to micromanage as a business owner; let alone peek into the future. Factor in the paperwork, and achieving this goal manually becomes all the more impossible.
Enter Occupational Health and Safety Management Software (OHSMS). A systematic approach towards managing health policies, assessing risks, taking corrective actions, and increasing compliance.
However, finding the right OHSMS for your business can be overwhelming.
Fret not. In this blog, we’ll explore 9 features to look for in health management software so that you hit the nail on the head.
Let’s go!
Risk Assessment
Workplace risk assessment and management is an elemental characteristic of a good OHSMS. It allows you to identify potential hazards and categorize them as per threat level. As a result, you can address critical concerns first and stay ahead of risks.
Features like risk assessment templates, inspection checklists, risk matrices, etc., to flag loopholes and prevent damage are meat and potatoes.
Employees should be able to access the right incident response plan depending on the emergency, communicate as per workplace safety protocols, and add feedback.
Reporting
Advanced health and safety management software provides excellent reporting capabilities like tracking changes, analyzing trends, benchmarking, insightful visualization, and so on.
You can identify recurring issues within the blink of an eye, create compliance reports, and even access pre-built reports that emphasize the basic OHS standards.
Setting internal targets, and comparing them with your competition helps build a safer workplace that continuously improves while staying compliant.
Compliance
Staying up to date with industrial and international safety standards like ISO 45001 is crucial to safeguard your employees and reputation.
Audit tracking is a necessary tool to showcase incident responses and how they were tackled during investigations. This helps avoid legal complications.
Creating a repository for tracking and updating regulations, monitoring compliance, and even initiating non-conformance processes is basic to quality OHS software.
These regulatory compliance tools go a long way in staying informed, mitigating risks, and avoiding penalties.
Understanding compliance can be a tough nut to crack for businesses, both small and large. A business mentor can offer strategic advice on different regulations relevant to your industry and how to adhere to them.
Document Management
Paperwork is indispensable, but also super cumbersome.
Thankfully, with OHS software, you can store all the important safety documents—policies, safety protocols, permits, incident prevention strategies and reports, training manuals, etc.
Plus, you can track changes and access revision history, categorize documents, and deploy filters for quick searches. As time goes by, even archive documents that are no longer required!
With document management, you can manage employee health data—medical history, health insurance, records of disabilities and injuries, compensation claims, and routine health assessments.
Customization
Every business is different and so are their OHS requirements. Thus, health and safety management software with powerful customization capabilities should be your top choice.
Find out if the software allows you to define the context of your organization, customize reports, and capture data as per your business demands.
Features like field customization, personalized dashboards, and setting up workflows are a must for unlocking the true potential of digital OHS management.
Automation
To err is human. That’s why you need smart occupational health software that can automate routine tasks, schedule inspections, and optimize workflow.
You can send out automated alerts to notify the authorities in case of an accident by specifying certain triggers. Health and safety management software can also help you capture data digitally, without any manual labor and error.
With the help of predictive analytics, you can identify emerging risks based on historical data analysis.
Scheduling can further assist in planning incident response drills, employee health programs, and training.
Ease of Use
Even the best OHS management system can fail if it’s a tough nut to crack. Thus, you must focus on the user-friendliness of the software.
Intuitive navigation is fundamental to designing software that assists your employees and simplifies complex tasks for them. Responsiveness is another characteristic to consider so that you can access the application on all screens.
Most importantly, look for a vendor who provides training and support for a seamless kickoff. Free trials and demos will offer an in-depth insight into how the software works and if it’s the right choice for your business.
Collaboration & Integration
Health and safety management becomes all the more practical when you can collaborate in real time.
Integrating platforms for instant messaging, team meetings, and video calls with the OHS platforms ensures swift communication.
Document sharing is another important facet that allows quick collaboration between employees and authorities. Managers can assign safety-related tasks and track their status on the app.
Moreover, your OHS software should also support collaboration with external parties like suppliers, contractors, etc.
Security & Backup
Security is a non-compromisable aspect of any application. An OHSMS should not only safeguard your employees but also secure sensitive data.
Role-based access is a defining feature that helps limit user access to confidential information based on user role and responsibility in an organization. For example, you can decide who gets to view certain documents and when to provide editing permission.
Data encryptions, multi-factor authentication, regular software updates, and customer support are some other factors to keep in mind.
You must also prioritize foolproof backup options—disaster recovery, redundancy and failover mechanisms, and data loss prevention measures.
Simplify and Streamline Workplace Safety With Effivity!
Forewarned is forearmed. That’s the mantra we thrive on.
At Effivity, we provide simple yet effective workplace safety solutions to protect your people and empower your business. Our health and safety management software is easy to use and comes with a quick, hassle-free setup.
Our ISO 450001 certification guarantees management as per standards. With high interoperability capabilities, you can seamlessly integrate it with your existing systems and leverage the power of vital business tools like Power BI, BIM 360, Rest API, Aconex, etc.
We offer numerous modules to govern the safety of your employees—risk assessment, HSE planning, compliance obligations, internal audits, documented information, purchasing, management review, and so on.
With our automated monitoring, you can build a safer working environment and future-proof your business.