Maintenance Management

Text Version

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Managing a job site is hard work, and for everything to function smoothly and safely, there has to be oversight.

When a job is delayed or over budget, there’s a temptation to look at critical-yet time-consuming tasks like OSHA safety and compliance checklists as a drain on profits: time is money, after all. But rather than focus on the immediate cost of compliance, owners, managers, and stakeholders should instead consider the “cost of doing nothing.”

Noncompliance creates an unsafe work environment

When safety is impacted by noncompliance, employees bare the brunt of the problem through increased job-site injuries. The average cost of all workers’ compensation claims in 2016 and 2017 was $40,051, with injury rates measured at:

APPROXIMATELY 210 INCIDENTS PER 10,000 Maintenance and repair workers

APPROXIMATELY 250 INCIDENTS PER 10,000 Construction laborers

APPROXIMATELY 360 INCIDENTS PER 10,000 Heavy truck and tractor-trailer drivers

These kinds of compliance failures add up. In 2017, nearly 155 million workers were affected by workplace injuries, which resulted in total costs of $161.5 billion. The cost per professionally treated injury was $39,000, and the cost per fatality was $1,150,000.

In addition, when workers know a job site is unsafe, firms will have to contend with lost productivity, delays from medical leave, and worker turnover.

According to the Work Institute’s 2019 Employee Retention Report, it costs employers about $15,000 to lose a U.S. worker, which translated to $617 billion total in losses due to employee turnover in 2018.

Low safety standards mean higher operating costs

Poor job site safety doesn’t just harm your team, it’s a drain on equipment and resources too. Workplace accidents can extend project deadlines indefinitely with issues like:

1 Sourcing and transporting damaged or destroyed materials
2 Repairing or replacing damaged equipment
3 Compromised viability of job-site

The reality of today’s fragmented supply chain means that materials acquired at the beginning of a job which are then lost, damaged, or destroyed might only be available at huge markups—or potentially not at all.

Materials prices are expected to remain volatile throughout 2023.

The price of these materials have all increased YOY by the
following percent:

27.0% Plastic construction products

22.4% Steel mill products

13.5% Concrete products

18.9% Gypsum products

111.1% #2 diesel fuel

Business losses aren’t always strictly financial

Unsafe practices in the workplace harm a business’s reputation, and can also make customers less likely to purchase goods and services from that company.

According to a 2018 global survey of nearly 30,000 consumers by Accenture Strategy,

65% said that they are more likely to buy from a company that treats its employees well

47% said they would walk away from a company if they were disappointed in its words and actions

17% of those customers never coming back

GoCanvas can help

Assessing and preventing risk presents a serious challenge, but protecting your workers and your profit margins is worth it. And with the right tools, it’s easy to streamline compliance documentation.

GoCanvas offers forms and templates designed specifically with OSHA regulations in mind. Try some of our existing forms, digitize your workflows, and avoid paying the cost of doing nothing with GoCanvas.

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Enabling Successful Digital Transformations in the Energy Sector

Posted on December 6, 2022November 22, 2024 by Danny Kanev

Enabling Successful Digital Transformations in the Energy Sector

Whether it is the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, or the United Nations, organizations all agree that mitigating the impact of climate change requires digitalization in the energy sector. Yet, research continues to report digital transformation efforts in business models are failing at a rate of 68% to 73%. Respondents cited failure in leadership and employee resistance as their primary challenges, impacting their return on investment (ROI) for renewable energy.

Removing Inertia from the Energy Sector

The primary obstacle to successful digitization is the extraordinary inertia that plagues the energy sector. Energy companies have unique constraints that feed into the culture of inertia, such as:

Risk. Investing in new energy sources or processes comes with risk. Miscalculations can be expensive, so many companies hesitate before moving into unchartered territories.
Physics. Energy management companies typically avoid violating the law of physics, because the process is always costly and rarely successful. They’ve grown to accept constraint.
Engineer driven approaches. Engineers are great at incorporating automation and data by finding the best solution within a set of parameters of machine learning. Unfortunately, many are focused on the perfect solution, which may not fit with business objectives.
Long tenures. Company executives often come from the ranks of the energy industry. They understand the physical constraints, the high risks, and the engineers’ thought processes. They are comfortable with how the sector operates.

These four characteristics create a culture that carefully weighs financial risks, loves Gantt charts, and favors a slow and meticulous implementation of sustainability.

Digital Transformation in the Energy Sector

Digital transformations require technology, but they shouldn’t be the focus. Whether artificial intelligence or data collection, the objective should focus on business outcomes. With a clear business objective, the project value can be assessed.

Take, for example, an energy company that has a documented process for transformer maintenance. The process involves a series of paper-based checklists detailing what actions should be taken on a daily, monthly, bi-annual and annual basis.

With GoCanvas, the process can be digitized to reduce downtime and optimize labor costs, improve efficiencies, and save money. All checklists would be converted to online forms that could be accessed from a smartphone or a desktop. Because the digital form would include what maintenance was performed when the field crew would know exactly what tools or service items to bring with them.

Each form or checklist would include:

Transformer number
Transformer location
Date of last service
Type of service

The transformer location could include a link to Google maps to help crews plan their day. When the crew finishes servicing a transformer, they complete the checklist, indicating the transformer number, location, and the date and type of service. They save the checklist and upload it for access by other programs or people.

Measuring Predictive Maintenance Outcomes for Your New Business Model

Digitizing the process eliminates the labor required to copy and distribute checklists, freeing administrative staff to perform more valuable tasks. Maintenance crews have access to their work order list and individual checklists no matter where the transformer is located. With access to Google maps and new technologies from within the form, maintenance personnel can map out their work schedule. Less travel time is needed because the crew can set their route to avoid retracing steps.

Digitalization allows employees to complete the form while traveling to the next location, meaning less time doing paperwork and more time servicing transformers. If signoffs are required, the checklist can be forwarded for e-signing. When finished, the forms are uploaded for integration into back-office systems. No one needs to return to an office to file paperwork. Selecting a self-enclosed workflow such as transformer maintenance keeps the project small. Outcomes are measured by the number of transformers serviced in a day, month, or week. The time spent copying and distributing hard copies can be quantified, and the cost of copy supplies can be estimated. With outcomes clearly defined, it’s much easier to see the ROI in a digitized solution. With GoCanvas, such projects can be designed, tested, and delivered in minutes.

Building Success by Implementing Digital Forms in the Energy Sector

No matter how small the digital project may be, its success should serve as a stepping stone to the next. As more people experience the positive outcomes of implementing digital forms, the number of projects will increase within the energy market.

With a growing number of successful digital projects, energy companies can disrupt their inertia and start to build a strong foundation for digital transformation. According to McKinsey, energy companies with digital success improved production and yield from 2% to 10% and reduced costs by 10% to 30%. Incremental improvement that scale could be what ensures a company’s survival.

Optimizing the Energy Sector with Digital Solutions

As the energy sector moves toward a more sustainable future, it must embrace digital transformation as part of the process. Integrating digital tools with data and other systems will help the energy sector and gas industry. They’ll improve operating efficiency, energy efficiency workforce effectiveness, energy production, worker safety, service delivery, and scale of transformation in end-to-end procurement and supply chain. For example, creating a decentralized energy framework means developing efficiencies by placing delivery mechanisms closer to the energy source.

However, capturing the data from remote locations needs digital forms so real-time, big data-driven decisions can be made. See how GoCanvas helped a petroleum transport company realize data collection efficiencies across the enterprise.

Transforming the Energy Sector with Digital Technologies

GoCanvas products were designed to help energy providers realize an immediate ROI through the implementation of digital forms and associated workflows. Suddenly the labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks can be handled smoothly. The collected data can be used by other programs to generate valuable insights.

Using GoCanvas enables the energy sector to demonstrate digital successes that can fuel a digital transformation. Whether it is oil, gas, wind, or solar, GoCanvas’s solution provides customizable templates that can collect data from distributed locations. Real-time data can be integrated to deliver insights through data analytics.

The process is simple.

Build the form.
Collect the data.
Share the data.

No programming skills are required. Contact GoCanvas to request a demo to see how to move your digital transformation forward.

About GoCanvas

GoCanvas® is on a mission to simplify inspections and maximize compliance. Our intuitive platform takes care of the administrative tasks, freeing our customers to focus on what truly matters – safeguarding their people, protecting their equipment, and delivering exceptional quality to their customers.

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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Lumen Saves $1M Their First Year with GoCanvas

How Lumen Saved $1M Their First Year with GoCanvas

The Background

Lumen is an enterprise technology platform that enables companies to capitalize on emerging applications. They integrate network assets, cloud connectivity, security solutions, and collaboration tools into one platform that enables businesses to leverage their data and adopt next-generation technologies.

Within Lumen, their Critical Infrastructure (CI) team maintains the equipment that supports the network – facility systems that keep the lights on and the temperature at a steady state. This includes regular inspection, implementation, review, and repair of cooling and power systems across North America.

The Problem

Prior to using GoCanvas, the CI team utilized paper forms for service and preventative maintenance (PM) reports. This process involved sending a technician to a site, completing an inspection form, returning the forms to a central office, scanning the form, then attaching the scanned reports to particular database entries.

Seeing how much time was being spent by technicians to complete administrative work, the CI team sought out a solution with GoCanvas to reduce the headaches from traditional paper and give time back to their crew members in the field.

The Outcome

With GoCanvas, the CI team could complete service and PM reports directly from their mobile devices, then transmit the data to their content management system (CMS). This meant more time for technicians to perform repairs when they would otherwise be transporting, scanning, and sorting forms.

GoCanvas also provided an opportunity to streamline the actual inspection process. Previously, the CI team had 15 different paper service reports to cover the various system assets at a location. GoCanvas allowed them to consolidate into a single digital report, automatically populating relevant checklists and information as a technician completes a form.

Moving to a single digital report has removed the time spent inputting duplicate customer and location details across multiple paper forms. Plus, technicians could complete service reports for multiple asset types on a single form submission, which automatically routes and sorts to their CMS.

Rod Badley, Critical Infrastructure Manager for the Central US, estimates that the move to GoCanvas has, ‘reduced our admin touch by 35% to 40%,’ with savings up to $1 million in the first year they used GoCanvas. Rod shares, ‘the more time we can spend doing actual work instead of doing administrative work means more money and more savings for us.’

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.

eBook Content: 3 Ways Mobile Technology Can Help in Roadway Construction Repair

3 Ways Mobile Technology Can Help in Roadway Construction Repair

Introduction

In the most recent “report card” on America’s infrastructure (2017) issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the country’s infrastructure “GPA” was a dismal D+. The nation’s roads earned a “D,” while bridges fared not much better with a C+.

Safety Improvement Program, which places a priority on widening lanes and shoulders and adding or improving medians. Congress is continuing to build upon the Surface Transportation Act with the Surface Reauthorization Act of 2021, which granted an extension on the work performed by the US Government.

Upgrading U.S. roadways has become a national imperative — which is welcome news for those in construction and related industries.

While an uptick in business means a boost to your bottom line, it also brings new and pressing issues.

This ebook offers 3 ways mobile technology can be tapped into to improve worker safety, regulatory compliance, and equipment repair and maintenance on the nation’s highway construction projects.

Chapter 1: Improving Work Zone Safety

Each year, more than 857 workers are killed and more than 44,000 are injured in the highway and street construction industry, according to workzonesafety.org, a project of the Federal Highway Administration, American Road and Transportation Builders Association, and other parties. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the number of fatal work-related injuries at road construction sites averaged 124 per year, and from 1982 through 2019, 28,636 individuals (about 774 per year) lost their lives in work zone crashes.

Since the peak year of 2002 – when 1,186 died in construction and maintenance zones – the number of deaths declined steadily to an average of 591 from 2008-2014, then increased to an average of 782 from 2015-2019. The industry can do better. Technology can help you assess workplace hazards and make crucial safety investments before accidents happen.

857 workers killed and 44,000 workers injured in the highway and street construction industry each year 36% Fatal Crashes in work zones have DECLINED by 36% since 2005.

Where Do Accidents Occur?

Of work zone fatalities in recent years that befell workers, almost half (48 percent) were runovers/backovers, most often by dump trucks, in 2019, nearly one-quarter of all fatal work zone crashes involved rear-end collisions.

Although this figure is less than the previous year, by 4%, this improvement was offset by an increase in fatal work zone crashes that involved speeding. Persons on foot and bicyclists also saw a significant increase (21%) in work zone fatalities in 2020, relative to 2019.

Here are some tips:

Develop an internal traffic control plan that limits access points to the job site and reduces the need for heavy equipment to back up.
Be familiar with your most commonly used heavy equipment’s Blind Area Diagrams; the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) publishes these for dump trucks, backhoes, dozers, rollers, and more. Share (and post) these diagrams with your crews and develop safety plans to keep workers out of blind spots.
Definitely make sure your trucks’ backup alarm systems are actually functioning. It seems like a no-brainer, but the lack of an alarm system was responsible for about 1/6th of recent backup fatalities. Those were totally preventable deaths.

It may surprise you to learn that more workers are killed by other construction vehicles than by the driving public.

What Are My Regulatory Responsibilities?

In addition to taking common-sense steps to protect your employees, you also need to follow OSHA guidelines if you want to avoid an expensive citation. OSHA’s regulations for work in traffic areas are laid out in 29 CFR 1926 Subpart G; they cover such basics as requiring workers to be trained for how to move in traffic, requiring temporary traffic barriers, and requiring high-visibility safety vests or clothing. Flaggers have extra responsibilities — they must be trained in traffic control procedures and be able to perform under stress.

How Can Mobile Help?

Checklists, an under-appreciated tool, are a great way to make sure you haven’t forgotten a crucial safety item in your work safety zone. And using a mobile checklist means that it’s always at your workers’ fingertips, and the information gathered is automatically stored in the cloud. You’ll be able to easily access and analyze this data to spot potential trouble areas — and prevent accidents before they happen.

With mobile checklists, you’ll be able to easily access and analyze data to spot potential trouble areas — and prevent accidents before they happen.

Start with a basic Personal Protective Equipment checklist and customize it to your needs. Or try one of the many mobile forms for paving and concrete workers, such as the Safety Checklist for Roadwork, Equipment Tracking, and more. Regular testing of equipment is important, too. A mobile checklist can help you inspect every aspect of a vehicle quickly and safely, so you can get back to work as soon as possible.

Chapter 2: Ensuring Compliance with Federal and State Regulations

When it comes to roadway and bridge repair/ construction, your business has to comply with no small number of regulations, including those from OSHA, noise regulations, and even state or local permitting laws. Many of these laws and regulations are straightforward and common sense. But of course, not everything is that simple.

Construction vs. Maintenance — What’s the Difference?

Understanding whether work is “construction,” and subject to OSHA’s Construction Standards, or “maintenance,” subject to general industry standards, is essential to ensuring compliance.

For instance, according to the law firm Sherman & Howard, a 2010 OSHA regulation covering cranes and derricks applies to cranes used in construction work, but not when the same equipment is used in general industry work.

Another example: If the work is considered maintenance, confined spaces are extensively regulated by OSHA’s Confined Space Standard, which requires strict signage and ventilation procedures. But jobs defined as construction have only minimal requirements.

Unfortunately, OSHA doesn’t make it easy to distinguish between the two. The agency doesn’t take into account the nature of your business (i.e., construction companies can perform maintenance and maintenance companies can be engaged in construction), what you call it (work you call “roadway maintenance” is probably actually construction), or whether the work is performed in-house, by a general contractor, or a subcontractor.

Nonetheless, Sherman & Howard explains that in many cases it’s not too tricky to determine which category the work falls under, and many employers’ standards exceed all OSHA requirements anyway.

In those cases where it’s unclear which standard applies, you should refer to OSHA’s resources on the matter, or consult a safety consultant or attorney.

Keep the Noise Down

Depending on where the project is located and what other activities are nearby, you may have to work on mitigating the noise coming from your equipment.

Building a logging road in an otherwise empty forest requires no noise mitigation; ditto with building roads in already noisy areas filled with bus yards, utilities, etc.

Areas near bars, hotels, and restaurants are less noise-sensitive than daycare centers, hospitals, and schools, which are in turn less noise sensitive than campgrounds, parks, churches, and other places of worship, and so on.

The Federal Highway Administration’s Construction Noise Handbook has some tips for noise mitigation, such as constructing noise mitigation barriers before building anything else, using supplies on hand that must be stored, like earth, to mitigate noise, and scheduling noisy work concurrently with other noisy work, so as to get it all done at the same time.

The FHA also required each state to update its own noise codes, so check with your state’s transportation department to learn about which noise regulations apply to where you work.

How Can Mobile Help?

Using individualized checklists can help you ensure compliance with all federal and state regulations. And to tackle the noise issue, GoCanvas has a self-assessment that can be completed quickly on any mobile phone or tablet, saving you paperwork trouble (and saving your employees’ hearing).

Chapter 3: Improving Inspection and Maintenance Compliance

Any safe, well-run, and profitable road construction project benefits from regular inspections. Conducting your own means you won’t be caught by surprise if your state’s transportation department drops in for an inspection. Regular inspections aren’t just about “gotcha” violations. A good inspection team will help you keep your project safer for both the driving public and your employees.

A good inspection team will help you keep your project safer for both the driving public and your employees.

Some items you may want to take note of:

General information such as project type, duration, location, contact information
Traffic mobility
Signage
Arrow board/message signs/Automated Flagger Assistance Devices (AFAD)/ temporary signal
Channelizing devices
Positive protection
Pavement markers and striping
Flagging (PPE, position, motorist direction, escape, etc.)
Work area traffic conditions and hazards
Law enforcement positions and activities (if applicable)

A mobile form can help you with your inspections and ensure proper documentation, secure and safe in the cloud, should you ever need to produce it. GoCanvas’ Work Zone Traffic Management Mobile Form Template, for instance, allows you to analyze your work zone, and inspect protective devices and your temporary traffic management plans. You’ll be able to capture a snapshot of any possible issues immediately — and submit audit results with just a tap.

Be Ready For OSHA

Stay on top of OSHA safety regulations and know exactly what you need to do to prepare for an OSHA inspection with these guides.

Your Guide to OSHA’s Construction Safety Regulations

A mobile form can help you with your inspections and ensure proper documentation, secure and safe in the cloud, should you ever need to produce it.

Inspections For Your Equipment

Regular inspections of your equipment are also important. Making sure everything is running properly and has been securely and safely installed and is regularly maintained is a part of keeping your employees safe. Regular inspections also help prevent breakdowns and keep your business on track and profitable.

Using a mobile form checklist helps ensure your maintenance efforts are consistent and can be done on the spot with an individual’s mobile device, not just “when we get around to it.” Following your equipment’s suggested maintenance schedule can help prevent damage to machines and keep everything running (and keep your business productive). Here again, using a mobile form chec k list makes your paper trail digital and much easier to retrieve.

What’s the Big Picture?

Consider setting aside time to think beyond just changing fluids and replacing worn parts with bigger-picture maintenance items. Equipment-maker, Tracey Road, suggests going over a number of items:

Operator training: If you have a new piece of technology but it’s being driven “the old way,” you’re not getting the full benefit of the new purchase Your Guide to OSHA’s Construction Safety Regulations.
Technician training: If you operate an in house shop, your techs need ongoing training to learn about the newest equipment.
Scheduled maintenance Planning ahead ensures you can take items out of service on your schedule.
Components: Can you negotiate a price discount from your supplier by buying in bulk?
Fleet sizing: Do you have vehicles that are sitting unused? A digital inventory will help you determine if you can replace two smaller machines with one larger one or just dispose of unused assets.
Disposal: Is it time to unload an underperforming asset? If you use mobile technology to track each machine to compute average productivity and costs per hour, you can identify equipment that is costing too much and should be replaced.

Conclusion

Given the nation’s aging infrastructure, there is an ongoing and growing need for road and highway maintenance and repair, which is great news for construction and repair companies.

By tapping into mobile technology, you can keep your workers safe, remain in compliance, and ensure the quality and performance of your work crews.

With all that new business comes a need to be hyper-vigilant about safety and complying with federal and state regulations. Conducting regular inspections of your worksites and equipment can ensure that everything is running at maximum productivity at the highest levels of safety. By tapping into mobile technology and the power of the cloud, you can keep your workers safe, remain in compliance with state and federal regulations, and ensure the quality and performance of your work crews.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

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Van Diest Supply Company Saves Over $200K Going Paperless

How Van Diest Supply Company Saved Over $200,000 in Paper Costs Alone

The Background

Van Diest Supply Co is a family-owned business that was started in 1956 out of Webster City, Iowa. They are an industry leader in producing and distributing crop protection chemicals. With over 700 employees, the company includes 20 plants and 17 distribution centers.

The Problem

Adanga Biddle-Roush, the Assistant Director of Health & Safety, first looked into using GoCanvas for training purposes. However, since implementing the platform, they have expanded it for all of their daily, weekly, semiannual, and annual inspections. Adanga mentioned, “I can’t even estimate the time it took to put together a report from paper data and now it’s at our fingertips in minutes.”

Before discovering GoCanvas, everything at Van Diest Supply Co was done on paper forms. There was an overwhelming amount of data that needed to be collected across forms such as incident reports, production reports, daily attendance, safety talks, supply requests and work orders. With the processes they had in place, Van Diest knew they needed a more effective way to collect this information, so they turned to GoCanvas for help.

The Solution

Today, with GoCanvas, work orders are submitted to maintenance supervisors for approval and then sent to maintenance workers, who are able to get the assignments on their tablets. When a job is completed, it goes back to being approved and then is stored in the cloud. The ability to upload information in real-time and streamline communication between supervisors and maintenance workers has been able to save Van Diest Supply Co time in productivity.

The Outcomes

Van Diest Supply Co has since moved away from paper and is fully utilizing GoCanvas for all of their paperwork. Adanga mentioned, “Going paperless is so freeing! And your information is available, organized, and can be used in multiple formats.” Now all of the information collected is stored in the cloud and dumped into an Excel spreadsheet. Having everything in Excel allows them to gain insights into their data from any specific time range. This comes in handy when auditors request inspections or maintenance records.

Since implementing GoCanvas, Van Diest Supply Co has noticed a huge difference in their productivity. Just in this calendar year, they have tracked $228,429 in paper savings as well as $162,545 in productivity savings. Adanga said, “The value is priceless and I can’t imagine doing business any other way. It has really helped our business keep up with the pace of the industry.”

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

US Inspect Saves Over $720K With Mobile Inspections

How Industry Leader, US Inspect, Saves Over $720,000 Annually with Mobile Inspections

Highlights

Recover +9,900 Hours of Productivity Annually
Over 53,000 Digital Reports Produced Annually
Annual Dollar Savings of Over $720,000+

The Background

US Inspect is the leading residential inspection company in the United States. For over 30 years, they have delivered residential inspections to thousands of home buyers and sellers across America.

The Problem

US Inspect provides each of their customers with straightforward and simple solutions to solve some seemingly complex problems, but before coming to GoCanvas, their paper-intensive processes hindered their efficiency. Before finding GoCanvas, US Inspect managed all information through Excel spreadsheets and email. These processes hindered the company’s growth and sparked their search for a data collection solution. As the company grew, JB Haller, CEO at US Inspect, realized that they needed a solution to give them a more efficient way to organize and analyze their data.

The goal was to find an application to streamline all of their forms. US Inspect wanted a platform that was easy to use for both its experienced inspectors and young engineers.

The Solution

GoCanvas was the answer! Once they adopted GoCanvas it didn’t take long for the staff to be up and running smoothly. Within weeks they were realizing the advantages GoCanvas brings.

The company hasn’t stopped there. Since the implementation of GoCanvas, the company has saved thousands of hours of tedious labor and created a competitive edge. The receiving form that used to take them thirty minutes now only takes them five. Techs no longer forget to fill out fields or photos as the required field feature ensures complete and consistent submission data each time. The company plans to continue building upon its integrations to maximize the efficiency of its business and make the most out of the GoCanvas platform. As GoCanvas helps improve US Inspect’s productivity, US Inspect is able to focus on delivering a wonderful customer experience by delivering a tailored solution for each of their customers.

Realizing the Benefits of Going Mobile

The company’s automated data collection has allowed the company to focus on providing the best service available. With better data visibility they are able to more accurately understand how the business is doing and where they can improve.

Significant talent acquisition advantage
Higher quality, faster deliverables
Minimal development resources
Fast failures (and successes)
Winning jobs and market share
Enhanced customer journey

Overall, US Inspect has seen a major increase in the accuracy of their reporting and visibility into daily operations. Even with over $664,000 + of productivity hours recovered every year, they are continually searching for new ways they can implement GoCanvas to save more time and money!

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

Lincs Electrical Services Saves 700+ Hours with Mobile Inspections

UK Electrical Contractor Saves 700+ Hours with Mobile Service Inspections

The Background

Industry: Electrical, Fire, and Security Services
HQ Location: Grimsby, England
Website: Visit Here

Quick Facts

Created & deployed 10+ mobile forms
Savings of £6,000 in paper costs since deployment
Over 1,000 mobile forms submitted in first 6 months

The Problem

For the past 13 years, Lincs Electrical Services has been servicing the needs of both commercial and industrial clients within the UK.

As a growing business, Lincs was becoming overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork that was being collected on a weekly basis. Field technicians would manually fill out each report by hand and then proceed to email/drive them back to the office. These reports would then be processed by three office staffers who would be required to re-input the information into their back-end systems. This manual data input process would waste up to 15 hours each week.

This is when Jamie Hamilton of Lincs Electrical Services realized that his teams needed a better way to collect and share data. He spoke with a representative at GoCanvas and decided that it was the perfect platform for automating their business processes.

The Solution

Two of the first processes that Linc converted into mobile apps were their Safety Inspections and Accident Reports. With these two mobile forms, Jamie was able to deploy GoCanvas to his field technicians within days and begin seeing the impact. Reports were now able to be shared, reviewed, and retrieved in real-time.

Since then, they have created and deployed a variety of different mobile forms including:

Panel Safety Inspection
Risk Assessment
Emergency Lightening Inspection
Visual Inspection Report
Job Order Report

These are just a few examples of the different processes that Lincs has begun to convert into the GoCanvas platform. They have been able to do this so quickly because of how simple the App Builder and PDF Designer are to use.

“We tried other automation solutions, but none were as easy or user-friendly as GoCanvas”, said Jamie Hamilton.

The Outcomes

Since going paperless just 6 months ago, Lincs Electrical Services has captured 1,000+ digital records and recovered over 700 hours in productivity with their custom GoCanvas mobile forms!

Features such as “Required Fields” ensure that Lincs field technicians always complete their reports with the necessary information. This allows the office staff to process forms today in just minutes, not hours. And with all the information flowing directly from their mobile device to the back office in real-time, forms no longer are being delayed or lost in transit.

This means customers receive their copies immediately, and reports can be retrieved at a moment’s notice. This functionality is essential for Lincs as they have three separate service divisions, and searching for records previously was extremely time-consuming. Now that all their records are digital and centralized, customers’ history and material lists can be fully integrated directly into mobile forms. This equates to a better experience for both the customer and the technician.

Overall, Lincs is just beginning to see the true impact of automating their paperwork with GoCanvas!

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Recology Saves $10K in Four Months by Streamlining Quality Control

How Industry Leader, Recology, Streamlined Quality Control Procedures & Saved $10K in 4 Months

The Background

Since the 1920s, Recology has been a pioneer in the resource recovery industry. Promoting recycling, composting, and various other waste-decreasing programs, Recology has become a major influencer of industry standards. Consisting of 60 operating companies with 3,000+ employees, Recology has become a leader in collecting and processing solid waste while reclaiming useful materials that would have otherwise been buried in landfills.

The Problem

While Recology was experiencing unbelievable growth as a company, they still found themselves seeking a solution to improve their internal data collection processes

The Solution

After decades of using paper-based inspections, Recology decided it was time to convert their safety and operations paperwork into mobile forms with GoCanvas.

Within these departments, Recology had a number of forms they were looking to standardize and automate including:

Vehicle Inspections
Accident Reports
Facility Safety Inspections

At the same time, Recology’s Sustainability team was also working with GoCanvas to design specific mobile forms to help digitize their quality control procedures. Eric Ahnmark, Recology’s Sustainability Program Manager, worked with GoCanvas to design and deploy quality control-centric apps to fit their various needs. These apps enabled Recology to quickly capture data on their smart devices and have it automatically be formatted in professional-looking PDF reports.

“GoCanvas is a solution that is flexible, robust, and mobile!”

– Eric Ahnmark

Additionally, Eric, and his team have taken the steps to begin standardizing apps across their entire business – helping Recology to create company-wide data dashboards that will allow for the tracking of contamination sources and much more!

The Outcomes

Since deploying GoCanvas just over 4 months ago, Recology has successfully developed and deployed over 30 mobile form processes across their 60+ operating companies.

With GoCanvas, Recology is now able to easily organize and manage data across their different operational locations with the assistance of GoCanvas Departments. This feature allows large, multi-location/department organizations like Recology to create sub-sections within their main GoCanvas account that can be managed by specially assigned users. Within these departments, Recology has created App Folders that allows field technicians to easily access the specific mobile forms they need for their job.

Today Recology has further solidified their place as an industry leader by increasing their data visibility and improving the way they share data with their customers. In just a few months since deploying GoCanvas, Recology has saved just over $10,000 and have increased their productivity by 19%!

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Field Operations | Job Safety Analysis | Maintenance Management

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4 Hidden Dangers in Oil and Gas Extraction

Posted on December 21, 2017November 19, 2024 by Danny Kanev

4 Hidden Dangers in Oil and Gas Extraction

4 Hidden Dangers in Oil and Gas Extraction Of course you want your oil and gas employees working out in the field to stay safe and healthy. But that can be difficult given the hidden hazards and oil and gas extraction dangers that exist — not to mention the known hazards that frequently aren’t properly assessed and can go undetected in oil and gas extraction.

Here are four hidden dangers in oil and gas extraction to put on the radar of your oil companies, and some ways that you can harness the power of mobile technology to identify risk, measure exposure, and keep your workers safe from harm.

1. Drilling Fluids

During oil drilling, fluids are circulated through the well and through systems that can be open, partially enclosed, or fully enclosed.

It’s well known that these fluids, when released into the environment, can cause groundwater contamination — so most companies have strict controls in place to prevent leaks. But these fluids, which often have trace amounts of hydrocarbons in them, can also cause health and safety issues among your workers.

Health effects from exposure to drilling fluids include dizziness, headaches, drowsiness, nausea, inflammation of the respiratory system, and even an increased risk of cancer.

Employees can be exposed while working in a shale shaker room, when over or around a fluids pit system, while on the drill floor, and more. But one of the most common ways workers are exposed to chemicals in drilling fluids is through contaminated and/or inappropriate protective gear. For example, fabric gloves that get soaked with hydrocarbons expose an employee to more contaminants than if he or she had not worn any gloves at all and had been splashed with fluid and wiped it off.

To keep workers safe from hazardous exposures, it’s important for oil companies to establish clear safety protocols for the handling of drilling and fracking fluids and to provide training for all members of the team. Then, use mobile forms to create and maintain safety checklists that your team members can use on a daily basis. Scrupulous use of such checklists will enable you to identify — and address — hazardous exposures before they lead to harm.

2. Silica

Inhaling silica dust can cause silicosis, a lung disease that causes shortness of breath, severe coughing, weakness, and possibly cancer or death.

OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have identified seven sources of silica dust exposure during hydraulic fracking:

Dust ejected from thief hatches (access ports) on top of the sand movers during refilling operations while the machines are running (hot loading)
Dust ejected and pulsed through open side fill ports on the sand movers during refilling operations
Dust generated by on-site vehicle traffic
Dust released from the transfer belt under the sand movers
Dust created as sand drops into, or is agitated in, the blender hopper and on transfer belts
Dust released from operations of transfer belts between the sand mover and the blender
Dust released from the top of the end of the sand transfer belt (dragon’s tail) on sand movers

You can take steps to control dust exposure by improving existing engineering controls and safe work practices. In addition, it’s required by law that you monitor the air to determine your workers’ exposure to silica, provide respiratory protection as needed, and offer training and information about the hazards of silica and other chemicals. For more information, see NIOSH’s “A Guide to Working Safely With Silica.”

3. NORM (naturally occurring radioactive materials)

The earth naturally contains small amounts of radioactive materials. Normally these concentrations are low and relatively harmless, but oil drilling activities can reveal or create higher concentrations. OSHA says that oil field production waters have high concentrations of radium, and that the scale inside pipes and tanks is where that radium builds up. Workers who handle pipes or work in gas processing facilities are at risk of NORM exposure. Water handling equipment has also been shown to have the highest levels of NORM contamination. While the radiation levels of even concentrated NORMs are fairly low, chronic exposure can cause cancer.

Because NORM exposure tends to be chronic, medical testing alone is not effective for protecting your workers. “Therefore, while medical surveillance is a standard strategy that is often used, it must be emphasized that source control, exposure monitoring, worker education and safe operating practices are the most important strategies for preventing significant worker exposures,” according to the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers.

4. Diesel exhaust

Exhaust fumes aren’t unique to the oil and gas energy industry, but they are a hazard anywhere heavy equipment or diesel generators are used. Short-term exposure to exhaust can cause eye, nose, and throat irritation. Long-term issues include cardiovascular problems and cancer.

Engineering controls are the best strategy to control exposure to exhaust. Use low-sulfur fuels and, if possible, restrict the amount of diesel-powered equipment in a work area. Also, regular maintenance of your equipment will prevent it from running too rich, which can result in excessive emissions.

Tapping technology to stay on top of hidden hazards

By tapping into technology — especially mobile forms — to provide your workers with everything from equipment inspections and hazardous substance self-inspections to safety checklists and more, you can keep your employees safe from these hidden hazards and oil and gas extraction dangers.

In many cases, OSHA or other energy regulation organizations have published energy standards relating to exposure levels of these hazards. So knowing the legal limits is a first step. Use these published energy guidelines (and other sources referenced here) to create training guides and mobile safety checklists that your workers can take right into the field with them. And consider using a mobile PPE checklist — a good practice no matter what hazards you are trying to mitigate.

You can also tap into the power of mobile forms to keep detailed records of samples taken to monitor air quality — vital information to have whether you are monitoring concentrations of diesel emissions or checking levels of airborne silica.

To see how GoCanvas can help you harness the power of mobile form to identify, monitor, and prevent hazardous exposure on your site and drilling rig, give GoCanvas a try today and download a free app from our Mining, Quarrying, Oil, Gas & Chemicals Application Store!

About GoCanvas

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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Analytics and Data Collection | Disaster Preparation | Maintenance Management

Keep Your Trucks on the Road: How Complete Inspection Records Lead to More Revenue

Posted on July 25, 2017November 18, 2024 by Danny Kanev

Keep Your Trucks on the Road: How Complete Inspection Records Lead to More Revenue

For a driver, carrier, or fleet owner, driving time means more revenue. Every minute your vehicles aren’t on the move, you’re losing money.

What’s the secret to minimizing time off the road? Often, it comes down to thorough documentation. Keeping complete and up-to-date records of your inspections can help you reduce downtime — whether due to repairs, out-of-service (OOS) violations, accidents, or otherwise — and keep your trucks generating revenue.

Of course, the method you use to maintain your records can affect the value and utility of that documentation. If you and your drivers are constantly scrambling to find paper forms (which may or may not be up to date), your documentation probably won’t be very effective in keeping your fleet moving. But by capturing data digitally with mobile inspection apps, you’ll be able to access updated information on demand, from anywhere — and that can have a significant impact on driving time. Here’s how.

Immediately identify preventive maintenance needs

The key to high-performing vehicles is preventive maintenance. Keeping the components and systems on your trucks properly maintained can keep them running safety and reliably. However, that can be a challenge for companies that rely solely on paper documentation, as it can be difficult to track and communicate back to the office which vehicles need which services, and when.

Mobile inspection forms can help you better track data for each of your trucks, such as mileage and completed repairs. Equipped with those records, you can more accurately time preventive maintenance and communicate when necessary services, like repair orders, need to be performed before minor issues turn into breakdowns or violations during roadside inspections.

Maintain quick-to-complete and accurate pre-trip inspections

During a recent blitz of roadside inspections performed by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, over 62,000 vehicles were inspected — and more than 20 percent (one in five) were immediately placed out of service. Some experts think drivers could avoid many of those violations if they kept better records.

Consider this: Jeff Langloss, the federal program manager for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), recently examined the violation records of 10 randomly selected companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area. He found that of the 4,296 total violations, 3,309 — 76.3 percent — could have been avoided with a pre-trip inspection. While that’s only a small sampling of the country, it’s clear that pre-trip inspections can be a helpful tool in avoiding common inspection violations.

Mobile pre- and post-trip inspection forms help drivers quickly and accurately assess the major systems and features of their vehicle, and determine if it’s safe to drive. Mobile pre-trip inspection forms cover:

Tires (inflation, tread, condition of spare)
Leaks (oil, fuel tanks)
Gauges
Dashboard warning lights
Lighting system (headlights, brake lights, turn signals, hazard lights, reflectors)
Safety equipment (fire extinguisher, reflective triangles/flares, spare bulbs, emergency contact info)
Trailers (brake connections, coupling chains/king pin, doors, landing gear, tires/wheels)
Other (windshield wipers, fans/defroster, brake system, mirrors, horn, exhaust system, seatbelts)

Collecting that data prior to each trip can help drivers and carriers pinpoint issues before they result in roadside inspection violations.

Increase safety to avoid damaging (or even fatal) accidents

Keeping accurate documentation can even help prevent crashes that are all too common in the trucking industry.

For example, an Ohio-based commercial driver was recently involved in a fatal accident. Following the crash and investigation, the driver’s family learned that the vehicle had been equipped with a badly worn tire and front axle. A crash reconstructionist who looked into the accident determined that the truck had so many maintenance issues that it shouldn’t have been on the road in the first place.

While not all crashes can be prevented, thorough documentation of truck maintenance and pre-trip inspections can help catch issues before they cause damaging or even fatal accidents that can affect your drivers and other motorists.

Minimize litigation by having accurate documentation

Accidents can also bring legal issues for carriers and other businesses that have trucks on the road.

For example, in another accident, a commercial vehicle that was hauling bales of hay lost 10 bales as its driver tried to keep the load from shifting in a curve, killing a driver and passenger in a nearby vehicle.

Ultimately, the truck’s owner and driver faced charges for failing to secure the load — a violation that should have been caught in a pre-trip inspection and certainly would have been caught during a roadside inspection. But federal records showed that the vehicle hadn’t undergone a check in about 15 years. Had the owner maintained regular inspections and records, he could have used that documentation during the litigation — and moreover, he likely could have prevented the accident altogether.

Mobile inspection forms aren’t just more convenient for your drivers; they’re more effective in keeping your documentation up to date and readily accessible — which can be key to keeping your trucks on the road. Learn more about how mobile inspection apps can benefit your business in the interactive eBook, “4 Ways Mobile Inspection Forms Can Keep Your Trucks on the Road.”

Then get started by trying out GoCanvas free (no credit card or contract required). We’ll help you create your first app, whether it’s for regular inspections, maintenance logs, or managing documentation.

About GoCanvas

Since 2008, thousands of companies have chosen GoCanvas as their go-to partner for seamless field operations.

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