SAFETY AUTOMATION

& TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

New Developments for 2017 and Beyond

Sponsored by Published by
The 2017 Safety Automation & Technology Trends Survey was launched in early July 2017 by EHS
Daily Advisor. The responses paint a real-world picture of how safety professionals are using new
technologies to manage the many challenges that they face every day.

We would like to extend our thanks to all the professionals who chose to participate in the survey.

466 Environmental, health and safety

professionals surveyed
SAFETY SYSTEMS AND DATA

55 %
of survey participants have a safety
information management or administration
MOST POPULAR DATA
COLLECTION METHODS

PAPER FORMS
system implemented at their companies.

73%
EXCEL SHEETS ON A COMPUTER OR TABLET

57%
WEB-BASED MOBILE APPLICATION

18 % 30 %
NATIVE MOBILE APPLICATION

of those polled have a safety-related

mobile application deployed in the field.
8%
SAFETY DOCUMENTS AND WORKFLOW METHODS

TOP 5 FORMS OR REPORTS TOP 5 MOST POPULAR

MANAGEMENT METHODS WORKFLOW METHODS

FILING CABINET E-MAIL

70 %
76 %
MANUAL SCHEDULING USING A CALENDAR
COMPUTER DIRECTORIES (E.G., MICROSOFT
WINDOWS FILE STRUCTURE OR EXCEL)

67% 37%
SYSTEM-BASED SCHEDULING USING A CALENDAR
E-MAIL AND RESOURCE LEVELING

39% 34%
ON-PREMISES FORMS/REPORTS MANAGEMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL
SYSTEM (E.G., SHAREPOINT OR DOCUMENTUM)

36 % 21%
CORPORATE IT SYSTEM (E.G., SAP OR ORACLE) PAPER-BASED DISPATCH

23 %
19 %
ANALYTICS AND REPORTING

63 %
USE EXCEL FOR ANALYTICS
AND REPORTING

CUSTOM, PROGRAMMED METHOD

24%
ON-PREMISES ANALYTICS TOOL THAT INCLUDES DASHBOARD AND REPORTS

20%

13
%
dont perform any
CLOUD-BASED ANALYTICS TOOL analytics or reporting
within their companies

15 % safety programs.
PLANNING FOR SAFETY

1
TOP 3
2JOB
SAFETY
DATA
SHEET
(SDS)
3
RISK ASSESSMENT METHODS HAZARD
ASSESSMENT FAILURE MODE
(JHA) EFFECTS
ANALYSIS
(FMEA)

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER OR VP OF OPERATIONS

29%
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO)
TOP 3 EXECUTIVE POSITIONS
SAFETY GETS REPORTED TO
25 %

VP OF HUMAN RESOURCES

12%
WHO COMPLETES KEY SAFETY-RELATED PROCEDURES?

SAFETY INSPECTOR FIELD SUPERVISOR FIELD WORKER EQUIPMENT OPERATOR

PROCESS AUDIT 65% 39% 17% 14%

EQUIPMENT AUDITS 41% 48% 27% 45%

PRE-WORK CHECKLISTS 29% 45% 40% 44%

WALKTHROUGHS &
OBSERVATION 78% 58% 29% 22%

INCIDENT REPORTS 71% 69% 31% 23%

ILLNESS/INJURY
REPORTS 71% 59% 24% 17%

EQUIPMENT OPERATOR
CHECKLISTS 20% 32% 28% 73%

SITE/WORK AREA
CHECKLISTS 46% 61% 41% 6%

HAZARD
IDENTIFICATIONS
80% 63% 42% 38%

JOB HAZARD RISK

ASSESSMENT 78% 53% 32% 24%

FAILURE MODE EFFECTS

ANALYSIS 42% 28% 11% 10%
TOP 10 OPPORTUNITIES FOR AUTOMATION

There are many opportunities for automation in safetyperhaps more than most EHS professionals realize.
This list ranks, by ratio, the program elements that survey respondents deemed very important to automate:

INCREASE EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION AND COMPLIANCE ABILITY TO QUICKLY UPDATE AND DISTRIBUTE SAFETY FORMS
1 6
48% 31%
ANALYZE WHERE PREVENTIVE AUTOMATE ACCESS TO SDS
ACTION WOULD HAVE THE MOST IMPACT DOCUMENTS AND REGULATION ARTICLES:
2 7
38% 28%
ENSURE ALL EMPLOYEES AUTOMATE INFORMATION TO INDIVIDUAL OR GROUPS
WORK CERTIFICATIONS HAVE NOT EXPIRED
3 8

36 % 27%
AUTOMATE COMPILATION OF ALL SAFETY
EMBED SAFETY CHECKS IN JOB ACTIVITIES METRICS ACROSS ALL SITES AND PROJECTS
4 9
36% 27%
TRANSFER MORE SAFETY MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY
TO SUPERVISORS, FIELD EMPLOYEES AND OPERATORS AUTOMATE PERIODIC REGULATORY REPORTING
5 10
31% 25%
TOP 5 IMPACTS OF AUTOMATION

Respondents who have used technology to automate their safety programs ranked state-
ments about the impact of safety automation in the following order:

Embedding safety check questions in all field operations

1 forms (work orders, maintenance, service, etc.) improved
compliance with our safety program.

By employing analytics, we can now prioritize the safety

2 issues that require a proactive accident prevention program.

Automating periodic reporting of our safety information

3 to OSHA and other agencies reduced effort and time and
improved compliance.

Our use of automated workflow, dispatch and messaging

capabilities has reduced safety related work delays and
4 ensured management is immediately made aware of
safety issues regardless of location.

Deploying mobile safety forms have allowed the safety

5 team to transfer more responsibility to field supervisors,
equipment operators and workers.
SAFETY EFFECTIVENESS NOW AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

TOP 5 SAFETY MANAGEMENT

55 %
TOOLS TO BE DEPLOYED
WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR

ONLINE TRAINING

of survey participants described the

effectiveness of their safety management 67 %
programs as good or excellent.
SAFETY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT/
ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM

44%
MOBILE FORMS

28%

80 % ANALYTICS AND REPORTING

27%
of those polled said that it is likely or very
ON-PREMISES FORMS/REPORTS
likely that their companies will achieve their MANAGEMENT AND STORAGE
safety goals in 2017.

26 %
SURVEY FIRMOGRAPHICS INDUSTRY

The 466 participants in the 2017 Safety Automation & Technology Trends Survey come from a wide Here are the top five industries
variety of job positions, industries, and company sizes. Here are some of the facts about the profes- represented by our response pool:
sionals in the response pool: 1. Manufacturing (37%)
2. Construction (15%)
3. Other (12%)
Other roles represented included:
4. Utilities (5%)
5. (TIE) Health care and social assistance
Executive (VP or higher): 3%
and Public administration (both 4%)

52 %
characterized their
Director of Safety, EHS or HR: 13%

Staff-level employee: 11%

HR or other manager: 8%
For the 12% of participants who indicated their
industry as Other, specified industries include:
job title as Chemical distribution
SAFETY OR Consultant or contractor: 7%
Aerospace
EHS MANAGER.
Front-line supervisor 6% Safety consulting
Research and development
Nonprofit

Company size ran the gamut from very small to very large businesses.
Here are the represented organizational sizes by number of employees:

1-49 EMPLOYEES 50-99 EMPLOYEES 250-499 EMPLOYEES

13 %
13 %
17 %
24
100-249
%
500-999 EMPLOYEES 1,000-4,999 EMPLOYEES 5,000 + EMPLOYEES EMPLOYEES

12% 11% 11%

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