Did you know that there are 160 workplace deaths per year in the UK, and that there are over 60,000 workplace injuries which can result in a loss of earnings for a business as well as a liability issue? Field worker safety is an important part of employee management today. Here is how you can employ software to help manage that process.
Field Worker Safety: Why is it important?
Field worker safety is an important consideration for any business that has staff in a non office based environment and regularly faces challenging environments and situations. Being able to manage field worker safety requirements is an ongoing process that businesses need to regularly engage in.
By reducing the risks presented to employees in the field, businesses also decrease their risks and liabilities over time. Effective field worker safety results in fewer accidents, lower workers compensation costs, less down time, lower repair costs, and less time training new people taking the place of an injured team member.
With a high number of accidents per year in the UK resulting in some life changing circumstances for employees, it is a businesses obligation to get a safety procedure in place and manage their remote staff to an extremely high standard to minimise risk to the individual and business alike.
Field Technician Safety Management Challenges
Being able to identify where there are safety challenges for the individual on site is going to be key. Field technicians work in a variety of different environments that make identifying the main issues all the more difficult.
1. Limited Communications
If you cannot keep in touch with your field workers in real time that can prove problematic. Before digital technologies this was even harder. The less that you are able to reach out to your field service personnel, the more that it will create a culture of “out of sight, out of mind” resulting in more issues being raised over time and potentially more liability issues as well.
2. Solo Working
When operators are in pairs it’s easier to look out for their safety requirements as a pair. However when someone is working remotely they can face more hazardous scenarios and equally have to deal with these by themselves. From minor issues, greater issues can arise such as injuries, getting lost or even encountering aggressive members of the public – each increasing risk considerably.
3. Changing environments
Differently to office based work, field workers encounter a variety of changing environments on a daily basis. Being unable to manage these changing situations can lead to greater risk and less control on some of the outcomes.
How Software Can Help With Field Services Safety
Field service management software can greatly reduce many of the associated risks that field workers can face. RedZebra software helps deal with many of these risks and has been used successfully with a range of industries.
By providing real time information on a field worker’s location and status (active on job, travelling, etc) it can help office based teams keep an eye on any potential hazard areas and relay information back to third parties when requested.
Whether it is wearable technology, a smartphone application, tablet or laptop login, software can help track job requirements, perform safety checks, set reminders and raise alerts to be delivered in real-time and integrated into workflow.
With so much to juggle for many businesses, this level of software integration into these services provides an overall benefit in reducing errors, increasing productivity and customer satisfaction.
By removing risk to field employees, you are helping take control of your duties as a business to ensure that every member of your team in the field is appropriately looked after. Service engineer software can help track an employee, keep them up to date with any associated risks in the field and provide support when needed.
