HSE managers face an overwhelming raft of challenges to keep people, the environment, and assets safe. Whether energy or aviation, mining or maritime, many industries continue to take a disconnected and siloed approach towards their safety management systems. This kind of approach makes it almost impossible for managers to spot potential hazards and keep their workers safe.
Situational awareness can help companies fulfil their duty of care by increasing internal communication and improving long-term safety processes. Cloud-hosted technology, combined with advanced people monitoring hardware, forms an effective situational awareness tool that is beginning to transform the way in which risk management teams operate.
Suggested reading: Explore our eBook, ‘The Connected Fleet‘, to learn how digital situational awareness tools are connecting workforces—even when people are on the move.
Make data-led decisions
One of the greatest challenges facing HSE managers is a lack of access to accurate, real-time information regarding their people, business operations, and potential threats. Important decisions are often made on the basis of experience and best judgement, rather than on verified data.
Companies seeking to optimise their duty of care are increasingly turning to cloud-hosted technology to gain risk insights and reduce incident response times. Cloud-hosted situational awareness tools provide:
- End-to-end oversight: HSE managers have complete visibility of day-to-day company operations.
- Fast response times: Leaders can engage in effective incident management from one, secure platform.
- Real-time data: Duty of care standards can be upheld, with workers’ real-time locations visible to all necessary personnel.
- Mitigated impact: Potential threats can be managed before they escalate.
Faster responses with real-time people monitoring
Tracking hundreds of employees, managers, and contractors across multiple sites is no easy task. Some companies choose to partially implement situational awareness tools by using swipe cards, which allow them to monitor who is on-site. This information is typically held in a separate system from personnel data, meaning that mustering times may remain high and incident response times will be extended.
How can situational awareness tools help?
Today, a combination of next-generation hardware security fobs and cloud technology allows team leaders to use a single, secure platform to manage people’s locational data. Sites can be divided into easily manageable zones, while highly visual dashboards enable managers to quickly track the number of workers in any area and at a given time.
What insights can we gain?
If an incident occurs, such as a fire, HSE managers can learn key insights within just a couple of clicks. Fobs can instantly identify who is at the muster point, and people who have not reached muster can be located quickly and have help sent to them.
Off-site workers can also be located using vehicle tracking, allowing leaders to identify potential threats and contact them if necessary.
Suggested reading: learn more about employee travel risks and how to avoid them.
Increase security with digitised access control
Although situational awareness software is becoming increasingly widespread, many companies continue to manage their sites using paper-based systems. These organisations will struggle to maintain strong site security and may be unable to intervene if an incident begins to escalate.
Digitally facilitated situational awareness provides an effective solution to this problem. With access to real-time data, leaders are able to easily locate flaws in their security systems and establish solutions before breaches occur. Managers have the ability to control which zones individuals can access, ensuring that everyone is where they need to be.
Fulfilling your duty of care
Digital situational awareness tools have transformed the way in which high-risk sites operate, improving HSE manager insights and eliminating worrying data dark spots.
HSE managers and Risk and Security teams are always looking for ways to improve the safety of their workforce and fulfil their duty of care. Utilising digital platforms is an effective method for enhancing security and safety, without complicating day-to-day operations.
Restrata has joined forces with global security hardware experts, HID, to enable unified, real-time situational awareness across energy, industrial sectors and beyond. Book some time with one of our solution specialists to find out how we can help you gain complete situational awareness and enhance your resilience.
Book a demo of Restrata Platform today.
