How Connected Work Improves Safety Management in Industrial Environments

1

Introduction: The State of Safety in Industrial Environments

What is connected worker technology?

“Safety is Job #1”: We’ve all seen the posters, and yet safety rates are still no better than 10 years ago. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 5,250 fatal work injuries in the U.S. in 2018, a 2 percent increase from 20171 and over 2.8 million injuries or illnesses on the job.2 The majority of these happened in industrial settings, and that number is almost unchanged from a decade ago. For industrial companies, maintaining the status quo comes at a high price, both in terms of productivity and the bottom line. The National Safety Council estimates that work-related injuries and deaths cost the nation, employers and individuals $161.5 billion in 2017, with 104 million lost work days.3 In its 2018 Workplace Safety Index, Liberty Mutual estimated that employers paid over $1 billion per week in workers' compensation for disabling, non-fatal workplace injuries in 2015.4 Even “near misses,” where an unplanned event doesn’t result in injury, illness or damage but had the potential to do so, can negatively impact on-the job confidence and productivity.

The mandate for environment, health and safety (EHS) management and operations leadership is clear: Accident rates are still far too high, and it will require a concerted effort – involving people, processes and especially technology – to create a safer environment for the 2.7 billion deskless workers5 around the world.

This eBook lays out some of the key drivers and issues facing industrial safety teams and management today, and illustrates how connected work can increase safety for workers, customers and the whole business.

1 https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm2 https://www.bls.gov/news.release/osh.nr0.htm

3 https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/work/costs/work-injury-costs/ 4 https://www.osha.gov/dcsp/products/topics/businesscase/

5United States Department of Labor

$1 billionper week in workers' compensation for disabling, non-fatal workplace injuries in 2015.5

fatal work injuries in the U.S. in 2018, a 2% increase from 2017.3

5,250

2

Industrial Accidents and Humans are Inextricably LinkedIn most industrial accidents, the root cause can be traced back to human errors in two areas: setup and maintenance of equipment and infrastructure, and poor procedural adherence when operators are executing new procedures or undertaking unfamiliar tasks.

Increased Complexity in Equipment Setup and MaintenanceIn the last 20 years, industrial environments have become significantly more complex due to the increased use of robotics, sensors and automation; increased specialization in processes and the equipment used in those processes; and a related reduction in the number of workers with the technical skills to fully understand the machines around them.

In the pursuit of cost containment, many maintenance tasks have shifted from dedicated maintenance crews to line workers. For line workers, clean/inspect/lubricate (CIL) is now part of their daily shift, whether they’ve been around that equipment for two weeks or 20 years. Machine readouts and sensor codes – touted as the way to avoid operator error – are frequently cryptic or poorly documented, making it even more challenging for workers to correctly set up and maintain equipment, especially those who are new on the job. This lack of clarity is further compounded by the increased number of languages spoken in the plant or worksite.

Not surprisingly, then, many workers feel overwhelmed and have difficulty following the complex instructions required to keep machines operating at peak efficiency.

68% of defects and 73% of variability on a factory floor stem from human activities.6

6A.T. Kearney, "The State of Human Factory Analytics"

Top 10 OSHA safety violations infographic LEARN MORE

3

Losing Tacit Knowledge... ForeverThe majority of working Baby Boomers (58%) say they have shared half or less of the knowledge needed to perform their job responsibilities with those who will assume those responsibilities after they retire:

have shared about half

21%

have shared less than half or no knowledge at all 7

37%

Poor Procedural Adherence and Worker InexperienceEvery worker is unique, and – for better or worse – that individuality often finds its way into industrial environments and the products on the dock. Sometimes it’s a minor variance in batch quality. Sometimes it’s a life-threatening quality issue that can decimate your brand. How does this happen? In almost every case, it’s the result of poor adherence to procedures and work instructions. As older workers with decades of institutional knowledge retire or move into other roles, they are replaced with new hires, many with little or no prior experience in the industry, let alone the specific equipment or processes in use.

7 The Harris Poll

4

How to Achieve World-Class Quality and Safety in Food and Beverage Manufacturing

EBOOK

Public tolerance for any kind of product quality issue or health risk is at an all-time low, with a real potential to drag down brand perception and even the financial health of a company.

Learn how to mitigate these risks:

These new hands are completely dependent on the work instructions provided by shift supervisors, safety teams and management. And those instructions need to be clear enough to be read and comprehended in the few moments a worker has before joining the rest of the team on the floor. Plus, as operations return to “normal,” the accuracy of work instructions is critical. They will need to be updated with new safety rules. Line speeds in consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturing can range from tens to hundreds of units per minute, so workers have little room for “learning on the fly.” Even with the best of intentions, mistakes happen – and those errors frequently go undetected until there’s a catastrophic failure or incident, on the floor or in the quality control lab.

5

Digitizing Standard Operating Procedures: An Essential First StepDigitization has long been viewed as the most straightforward solution for organizations struggling to increase standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance. But there’s also more that needs to be done to truly solve some of the underlying issues that result in workplace accidents.

Limitations of Digitizing SOPsDigital checklists offer clear benefits over paper, notepads, white boards and binders. They’re portable, searchable and, in many cases, interactive. SOPs can be remotely administered, dynamically updated and pushed out to locations. And as workers get more comfortable with tablets and mobile devices, they also get more efficient at selecting and using the right SOPs.

But if the paper-based documentation and SOPs were vague or incomplete to begin with, there’s still the risk that workers mis-interpret the instructions or fail to complete critical safety steps. Additionally, digitized checklists frequently lack context or data validation, so it’s easy to input inaccurate information. In many cases, the data is written out to a static PDF reference document at the end of the shift, losing context and value. There are limited built-in methods for workers to provide feedback on the processes and instructions. Most critically, it’s easy to miss issues unfolding on the floor because checklist applications don’t communicate in real-time with enterprise systems. Some even lack the ability to send alerts and notifications to shift supervisors and safety managers.

“Schlumberger is working with Parsable to develop and deploy a digital solution that allows us not only to author and execute but also monitor standard work instructions across our global operations.”–Quality Systems & Practices Manager, Schlumberger

6

–Quality Systems & Practices Manager, Schlumberger

Connected Work Holds the Key to Continuous Safety ImprovementConnected work methodologies and technologies don’t just digitize SOPs. They capture operator and system inputs during work execution; measure and analyze that data to identify trends; and provide clear insight to supervisors, managers and executives tasked with improving worker safety.

Safety Embedded into Daily Work RoutinesConnected work reduces industrial accidents by ensuring the best possible information is available to frontline workers. Safety checks are transformed from static, paper-based and often outdated protocols to digital, interactive processes. Safety “sub-routines” can be embedded directly into frontline worker SOPs instead of living as separate safety tasks that require special EHS management and oversight. SOPs can include reference documents, video tutorials, audio instructions in different languages – whatever medium works best for the workforce and the situation. If workers have concerns while on the job they can reach out directly to supervisors and safety experts via SMS chat from within Connected Worker® from Parsable.

When safety instructions are re-imagined as a series of easy-to-follow interactive steps, workers can successfully complete safety checks the first time, and every time. Safety training then becomes a continuous on-the-job exercise, not a disconnected classroom course taken every six months.

8LNS Research, "The Connected Worker: Mobilize and Empower People to Reduce

Risk and Improve Safety"

Advanced technologies provide real-time interaction for workers with the work environment and safety/risk management system processes and procedures...As a result, connected workers can make better, faster decisions that improve safety and productivity.8

7

53% of U.S. companies have implemented connected industrial workforce measures.9

Increased Top-Floor Visibility to Mitigate RiskSafety processes within a connected work environment go far beyond “learn and execute,” however. Incidents get logged and flagged in realtime and have a higher probability of being noticed at the supervisor and manager level, which means the procedures can be quickly updated to help prevent those incidents from happening again. Workers can also contribute toward a proactive safety culture by providing feedback and safety improvement recommendations – directly within Connected Worker.

Most significantly for large companies that utilize similar equipment and procedures across dozens of sites, data-backed safety concerns can be quickly surfaced and mitigated before similar accidents happen in other locations. And because everything is digitized and data is automatically captured in the cloud, companies have instant access to a comprehensive digital record of what happened in the event of an investigation by in-house auditors or government agencies.

9Accenture

8

Addressing the Major Barriers to Safety ImprovementConnected work helps reduce the likelihood of accidents by making safety-related activities more consistent, collaborative and transparent across the enterprise. And the data captured at every moment enables industrial companies to proactively prevent, respond to and resolve incidents.

Top Challenges to EHS Performance ImprovementData from LNS Research's EHS Management Survey show that disparate systems and poor collaboration were the biggest barriers to effective performance improvement.10

Disparate systems and data sources

Poor collaboration across departments

Inadequate ROI justifications for improvement

Ineffective metrics program

Lack of continuous improvement

Lack of executive support

Lack of talent

0% 60%50%40%30%20%10%

49%

31%

17%

28%

31%

46%

12%

10 LNS Research

9

ConsistencyBest-in-class safety practices can be identified, quickly disseminated to the global workforce, and automatically incorporated into existing SOPs. By cueing up specific reminders and steps as dictated by the procedure, compliance becomes more consistent across teams and sites.

For example, an alert can be triggered to remind workers to use a new piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) before executing a routine job. The safety “sub-routine” within the SOP may also require that the worker check off that they have completed the safety steps before they can move on to the broader work procedure or set of tasks. These in-line digital cues and reminders lead to more consistent work performed across sites and teams, and ultimately less incidents and near misses.

Mobile-based connected worker technology ensures safety tasks, like having the proper PPE in place, are performed before the next step in the procedure can be cued up.

10

VIDEO: See how Parsable makes it easy

for customers to collaborate and communicate with team

members remotely.

CollaborationConnected work enables line workers, remote maintenance staff, supervisors, inspectors and management to communicate directly with one another on a mobile app to get jobs done safely and efficiently. This is especially important for remote or field service workers who may not have easy, timely access to assistance or expertise.

For example, a field worker could capture a machine reading that indicates a dangerous situation is unfolding – but they may not have the expertise to diagnose and fix the problem on their own. Rather than waiting for additional instructions, or sending a team of experts onsite, a connected worker solution enables the employee to quickly collaborate with one or multiple team members and receive immediate support and guidance.

11

TransparencyWith work execution and safety data continuously fed back into the enterprise systems, connected work can help uncover previously hidden information about behavior and trends that increase risk or could lead to incidents. Connected Worker tracks every element of every task – including the amount of time spent – and can alert management if there are significant variations from the reference SOPs.

Dashboards give safety managers and executives broad visibility across the enterprise – into plants, shifts, lines and jobs – and make it easy to identify issues and safety risks. The information can be escalated to safety and compliance teams, which can then take steps to resolve them before an incident occurs.

Qualitative data from gemba walks, behavior-based safety observations (BBSOs) and job safety audits (JSAs) can be combined with quantitative data on the execution of procedures like lockout/tagout (LOTO), to provide environment, health and safety (EHS) and operations management with continuous, in-depth insights into processes and areas that can be improved.

12

Transparency in ActionA global beverage brand moved its clean/inspect/lubricate (CIL) SOPs from laminated paper to dynamic digital work instructions that are pushed to operators with reminders at the correct time. Completion statistics and time stamps are automatically captured and displayed in dashboards for management. The company improved the OEE of filling lines by 5% within one month, increased its rate of defect detection by over 100%, and improved the safety and quality of its CIL process due to the adoption of best practices.

Leveraging Data to Improve Incident Investigation and ReportingIn even the best of environments, accidents occur. And when they do, safety and compliance teams can leverage connected worker technology to quickly provide the proper care to those affected, assess what went wrong, and take immediate steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again – without a significant cost investment.

13

Connected Work in Action At Grupo Bimbo, prioritizing the human component of ensuring safety has led to impressive results.

More Accurate, Instant Digital Record of Safety IncidentsConnected work provides instant access to a detailed digital record of exactly what happened leading up to the event. And immediately following the incident, on-site evidence and information can be promptly captured on a single mobile device, including photos, voice notes and video interviews, all stored in a single, fully auditable and readily available data repository. For both internal EHS and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigations, this ability to digitally capture and instantly access evidence is much more reliable than handwritten notes or, worse, someone’s memory.

Over time, data-backed safety trends can be shared with regional safety, compliance and operations teams to determine whether the event was an isolated one or part of a broader safety issue.

By using a data-driven platform to track and quickly address safe and unsafe acts, near misses, and major and minor incidents, a "proactive" safety management system emerges that guides workers to adopt safe behaviors and conditions. Ultimately, this can reduce key “reactive” safety metrics monitored by OSHA, like an organization’s Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), a metric that measures the number of recordable incidents, and Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR), a metric that measures lost productivity.

Transforming Safety Without Breaking the BankAs governments mandate new requirements for EHS management and operations post-COVID-19, now is the time to adopt connected worker technology. Connected Worker can be rolled out in weeks, and most organizations see a return on their investment in a few months. Why? Because Connected Worker leverages the most powerful asset at industrial companies today – human workers on the frontlines – to apply continuous improvement best practices to safety-related operations. Connected work is about empowering industrial workers with modern, mobile-based digital tools so they can do their jobs better, while ensuring worker safety. Once empowered, workers themselves go the extra mile to increase safety (and productivity and quality), benefiting every part of the organization.

14

Conclusion: A Culture of Safety is Within ReachModern technology can help companies ramp up production, scale efficiency and ensure worker safety. At the end of the day, the goal of safety management – and the most important priority for any industrial company – is to protect and ensure the well-being of its human workers. By leveraging connected work, companies can create a continuous feedback loop that will help improve overall adherence to post-COVID-19 safety protocols, standardize procedures, and create a culture of safe behavior. This, in turn, ensures that workers can focus on doing their best, most productive work – safely.

For more best practices on how to transform your industrial operations, visit www.parsable.com/resources. For a live demo of Connected Worker by Parsable, visit www.parsable.com/get-started.

Transformational Value Industrial companies that deploy Connected Worker achieved:

downtime reduction25%

audit reduction time25%

decrease in errors per month

90%

days reduction in time to access key data

30%

15

About ParsableParsable empowers industrial workers with modern digital tools to improve productivity, quality and safety. Connected Worker® by Parsable transforms static, paper-based procedures into mobile and interactive work instructions, enabling workers to leverage multimedia formats and collaborate in real time. With Parsable, companies gain unprecedented insight into human work by capturing essential data to improve their operations. A member of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Parsable is trusted by top global companies in the manufacturing, energy, consumer packaged goods, chemical, aerospace, industrial equipment, automotive and packaging industries. Learn more at parsable.com.

SAN FRANCISCO | VANCOUVER | DUBLIN

© Copyright 2021 Parsable, Inc. All rights reserved.