Where Does Safety Software Get It Wrong?

Where does safety software get it wrong? The Wombat Software Team has spent the last 9 months speaking to Safety Professionals. We want to understand the daily challenges that they face. What do they want to see in a potential solution?

An effective safety program requires the collection of a lot of information. Routine monitoring of this data helps identify and proactively resolve issues before they become problems.

You would think that software would be a logical tool to use in the management of safety data. However, we have been repeatedly told that safety software has historically caused more problems than it has solved.

Where does Safety Software get it wrong?

Here are some of the most common complaints that we have heard about safety software.

• It is too complicated to use onsite. Workers need a quick and efficient way to submit the required information. They need to focus on their actual jobs.
• It does not collect the information that safety professionals need to make informed decisions. For example, understanding the hazard group WHMIS classification can be essential in identifying potential risks and ensuring the right data is gathered.
• There is no time to crunch numbers. Safety professionals want an at-a-glance visual representation of where the issues are. After that, they can focus their time and attention where it will have the most impact.
• Companies find it hard to see how workers will adopt the software. Therefore, they do not see how they will get a return on their investment. An example of a concern in this area is ensuring that workers understand important safety symbols like the exclamation mark WHMIS meaning, which is crucial for quick hazard identification.

Please comment below if we have missed anything!

These are not new challenges. For example, the 2017 article “The Top 3 Objections to EHS Software and what they get wrong” touches on many of these same themes.

Wombat Software wants to put an end to the dysfunction and partner with safety professionals to develop safety software that will actually work in the real world and solve problems.

We will be releasing the first part of what will be a fully loaded safety management system in just a few weeks. We want the software to adjust to each business’ unique requirements. Above all, users should never have to adjust to the software.

With that goal in mind, we invite you to be one of our amazing alpha testers. Click Here to contact us and get a sandbox set up just for you. Play around in the software. After that, let us know how we can continue to improve and make life easier for safety professionals.