Balancing Safety and Productivity in High-Risk Industries

A survey by the National Safety Council (NSC) found that 33% of 2,000 people surveyed across the U.S. believe their employers focus more on productivity than on safety.

In high-hazard field service markets – such as construction, oil and gas and utilities – safety has always been at the margins of efficiency. Many companies in these areas are convinced that they need to compromise and ask employees to be more productive, or to be more safe.

But with the right technology, management of risk, and operational intelligence, we now know safety and productivity aren’t mutually exclusive. Even they can be mutually reinforcing when they’re properly managed.

The Safety-Productivity Puzzle

For decades, safety was seen as a productivity killer. Safety regulations scared workers and managers alike, slowing down operations, inducing disruption, putting off work, missing deadlines and lowering profits.

The thing is, when you reduce safety in high-hazard occupations, it has far-reaching consequences not only for the employees but also for the company. Absent time due to accidents, injuries, and worker burnout all directly affects productivity.

Construction, Education & Health Services, and Agriculture are the top three industry sectors with the highest rate of death, injury, and illness in 2022. The highest rate of deaths occurred in construction, which showcases the daily threat faced by construction workers. But accidents are not only bad for workers’ health: they wreak havoc on work schedules, lead to expensive fines, and hurt an organization’s image.

Safety and Productivity

Like we said earlier, safety and productivity aren’t mutually exclusive. Experts are pretty much unanimous in saying that the proper working conditions will increase efficiency.
How?

A safe workplace gives workers the reassurance to do what they need to do without ever having to think about danger lurking. When workers feel safe they are more efficient and engaged in their work.

A safer operation is proven to yield more. For instance, higher rates of injury at work go hand in hand with slower processes and a high turnover—all factors that stifle productivity. By becoming safer, companies avoid accidents, wasted time, and turnover, which leads to higher productivity in the long term.

Technology in Maintaining the Right Score Between Safety and Productivity

The most significant development in recent years is technology-enabled safety and productivity. High tech risk management software, wearables and in-the-moment data logging are transforming high-risk sectors. These technologies allow managers to check the work environment, see hazards before they can lead to an accident, and monitor employees health and performance to avoid fatigue-related incidents.
Risk management software, for instance, can help automate hazard detection, safety audits and even employee safety training. With such automation, businesses can be more productive without the loss of safety. With risk management, a company is safe not only from business failures or disruptions, but also from possible employee injuries and other work-related risks.

Another good technology is wearables that monitor workers’ vital signs and signal the supervisor when someone is fatigued or stressed. This helps the teams prevent crashes, ensure worker safety, and keep the company moving forward.

Strategies to Find Balance

• Develop a Safety Culture: Safety needs to be inscribed in the culture of the entire company. Field personnel, managers and executives should share safety. The result is that safety trumps productivity, in a beneficial way.
• Run Training Courses: Regular training courses that balance safety and efficiency can be quite useful. Employees must be asked to adhere to safety protocols and productivity metrics must be based on healthful working conditions.
• Data-Based Solutions: Analytics that can uncover injuries at the workplace, efficiency of processes, and areas of improvement. Workplace safety and health statistics reveal that informed choices decrease accidents and improve productivity.
• Connect with Employees: Your field workers know what’s efficient and safe. And their insights can result in real world interventions that reduce risks without hindering productivity.

Problems and Answers

Safety and productivity aren’t always easy to manage. Exhaustive timescales, cost limitations and client expectations all can convince companies to trade safety for velocity.

In some workplaces – especially in the construction and mining industry – we see a “get the job done” attitude with a fast, no safety policy. This instant gratification has a much longer effect, expensive lawsuits, reputation damage and ultimately the shutdown of the company.

The solution is to change the mindset from “safety vs productivity” to “safety is a productivity driver”. Good work is safer, better work is more productive. What we know for sure is that when the safety activities are incorporated into the daily workflow rather than as third-party checks, it enhances the quality of work. Professional safe work = less re-work – projects are on time and within budget.

Safety-First Businesses

Safety has been innovatively matched to productivity for many businesses. These firms know that safety isn’t a constraint to productivity, but rather an integral part of it. They can reshape their business DNA around safety and continue to drive quality of operations while also protecting the safety of employees.

A prime example is the oil and gas sector with its stringent safety requirements. The work being so dangerous, businesses in this field have long used a state of the art safety system. Such companies implement industry-leading technologies to ensure worker safety is tracked in real time, including wearable devices that measure employee exhaustion and warn managers about risks. Combined with the right safety training, these technologies make sure that their operations run as productive as possible with as little risk as possible.

For example, Shell and BP have devoted considerable resources to risk management tools, real-time hazards monitoring systems, and comprehensive safety audits. Such tools enable them to stay current with the requirements and optimize the processes.

Along with oil and gas, construction companies have stepped up and implemented safety into their everyday lives. Automated safety audits are part of the construction process built into modern project management software. These systems assist building managers in scheduling and capturing safety inspections, which are performed regularly and documented thoroughly.

With the help of these technologies, organizations such as Skanska and Bechtel can keep their employees safe and their projects on schedule. Automations for automatic safety checks enable building firms to track conformance in real time and adapt to omit delay. Not only do they monitor safety compliance but connect it directly to productivity objectives to deliver an efficient process improving both worker safety and productivity.

Field Promax: Boosting Safety and Productivity

Field Promax makes balancing safety and productivity a breeze! With features like automated scheduling and real-time tracking, it helps field teams stay efficient without compromising safety. Supervisors can ensure workers aren’t overloaded, reducing burnout and accidents. 

Plus, with real time job monitoring, you can quickly address any safety concerns in high-risk jobs like construction or utilities.

It’s the perfect tool to keep your team safe and your projects on track.

Conclusion: A Secure Future Is a Productive One

Safety, in short, does not have to be your enemy. As statistics about workplace safety and health reveal, workplace accidents can cause a lot of harm not only to workers, but to employers in the form of productivity loss, fines and reputational damage.

Using modern technology and a focus on safety-first practices, companies in high risk field service domains are able to keep their staff safe and maximize productivity. The companies who nail this balance will lead their fields.

Originally Published at – Field Promax (Balancing Safety and Productivity in High-Risk Industries)