5 tips so you can start improving safety today

‘Our organization is not yet ready for such a platform.’

Honestly: you are probably never quite ready. However, that is no reason not to start. In this article, we provide five tips to help you start improving safety today using Safesight:

Of course, it is important to set a goal with what you ultimately want to achieve with Safesight. It should be clear what tangible problem (or problems) will be solved. There should be clear objectives. However, we regularly see that safety is easily made into a very big project. So big, in fact, that organizations become paralyzed to start working on it in a tangible way: policies have to be developed, external expertise brought in, meetings organized, plans made and discussed. A year goes by in a flash.

Most important preconditions for a successful implementation are an involved project owner, a clear problem and focus. And – of course – time. It is not about weeks, but it is important that the project owner has sufficient time available at regular moments.

Five practical tips

1. Start small
2. Formulate tangible, achievable objectives and learn as you go along
3. Everything is allowed
4. Embrace resistance
5. Don’t reinvent the wheel

1. Start small

Start with a small group of committed colleagues. This could be one department or a number of representatives from different departments.

Start with one or two functionalities. By immediately deploying all functionalities, you run the risk of users being overwhelmed by the possibilities. And then you run the risk that some will drop out. For example, focus only on Safety cards to inform app users. Or on the logbook to properly register anything that could affect the continuity of the project or organization.

2. Formulate tangible, achievable objectives and learn as you go along

For the first month, make a weekly plan that includes tangible achievable objectives. Again, keep it small and manageable. For example: everyone makes at least three logs per day. Or: all head FAFS officers are logged in by the end of the week and have given their feedback on the content of the app.

The project owner closely monitors progress and regularly gives feedback on results and experiences to all involved. Also to the management. You then take the results of the first week into account when reviewing the objectives for the second week and beyond. Get started and learn as you go!

3. Everything is allowed

Use the first weeks mainly to let people familiarize themselves with the software. In this, everything is allowed – rather too many log items than too few. And the more questions you get the better. After all, everyone has their own expectations and demands regarding this kind of software.

In fact, for many people it only becomes clear in the first few weeks what they actually expect from our platform. By working with it in day-to-day practice, they see the added value and possibilities. This is why it is important not to have a densely packed implementation manual in the preliminary phase, but to remain flexible. Reality is always slightly different then you expect.

4. Embrace resistance

No matter how good the platform is, there are always colleagues who have other ideas. Or even really don’t fancy it. Embrace that resistance – there are good insights behind it. They are often committed colleagues who really do know what they are talking about. Besides, you make your critics co-owners of the platform including the objectives. You will see that when those objectives are achieved, resistance turns into enthusiasm and ambassadorship.

5. Don’t reinvent the wheel

We know from experience that every organization is different. We now also know that implementing our platform at a construction company is not very different from the implementation process at a stadium. Do not reinvent the wheel yourself. Use the experience we have gained at organisations such as BAM, the Johan Cruijff ArenA or at a large festival such as Pukkelpop or Zwarte Cross.

Start with our industry-specific templates, learn as you go and only make adjustments once you have a good overview of the potential added value of Safesight for your organization. Get the basics right and then see how you can make the software work even better for your organization.