As a health and safety professional, you may be more than aware of the frustrating manual practices surrounding EHS and the value of digitizing your systems. Yet not everyone at your workplace may think this way. You may feel ready to purchase EHS software, but how do you get your leadership onboard?
This blog will provide an evidence-supported business case for investing in health and safety software and its return on investment (ROI) value for your organization.
While many parts of businesses are modernizing and switching to digital processes, many EHS departments stay unchanged. The rest of your organization may feel like it’s keeping up with the times, while your safety management systems stay rooted in the past. If your manager is hesitant to invest in an EHS software solution, this is likely down to three key reasons:
1. They are not fully aware of the benefits.
2. They view the solution as a cost-loss model.
3. They are intimidated by technology.
To produce a convincing case in favor of modernizing your EHS processes, these three issues should be addressed.
First, ensure that your EHS managers are aware of the benefits of switching to a software solution, as well as the limitations provided by your current processes. Organizations that manage workplace safety manually are more likely to make mistakes or lose track of information or actions. Additionally, provide a foundational understanding of the benefits of transitioning to software tools. Progress is limited when technology is not an option, and reports show that organizations adopting cutting-edge technology are more likely to profit in the long term.
We recommend following the steps below when building your business case.
Conduct the Bradley Curve survey with your team and frontline workers to identify areas in your company’s culture, organization, processes and activities that could use an improvement in safety. The Bradley Curve survey is a proven system that benchmarks safety and helps point out the ways that safety could be improved.
Next, we recommend conducting a health and safety audit for all health and safety processes and a full inspection of the facility. This involves walking through worksites and assessing equipment, work practices and potential hazards and risks. This can be done with the help of either the Bradley Curve model or the Safety Maturity Model. This should give you and your managers a better idea of the present state of health and safety at your workplace.
It is important to get early buy-in from company stakeholders to help lead the discussion on workplace safety. Stakeholders can be individuals in any of the following groups:
Executives: Start with your manager. Convey that the best EHS results are most easily achieved with industry-leading health and safety software.
IT Management: Getting the IT department involved in the decision-making process helps your organization pick a software solution best suited for your needs.
Team: Prepare your team for the possibility of a digital solution to ensure their concerns are considered and resolved. Your team must understand the personal benefits of the digital switch and be prepared for such an implementation. Don’t leave your team behind when it comes to introducing new tech into the workplace.
Health and safety software will inevitably save managers money. Make it a no-brainer by walking them through the following:
Medical expenses, such as hospital stays, medicine, therapy, ambulance rides
Workers’ compensation claims
Paid sick and family leave
Regulatory fines and penalties
Legal costs
Indirect costs are four to ten times higher than direct costs and include:
Employee absenteeism and turnover
Lost productivity
Loss of equipment/materials
Negative publicity and reputational damage
Loss of customer trust
Training replacement employees
Investigating accidents
Repairing damaged equipment
Impaired employee morale
Employee absenteeism
For the most part, these are all expensive and avoidable. This is where health and safety software comes in — it’s an excellent tool with which to mitigate these costs. Make sure that your managers understand that health and safety is not the place to cut back on spending.
It’s likely that a big part of why leadership is hesitant to invest in health and safety software is because they have little understanding of what it actually entails.
You should convey that EHS software standardizes, simplifies and automates all your company’s health and safety activities.
Software-based health and safety systems accomplish the following:
Remove barriers to reporting hazards and incidents.
Anticipate problems before they happen.
Maintain complete visibility with dashboards.
Access health and safety information with a few clicks.
Automate health and safety administrative tasks to help managers follow up on tasks, generate reports and follow through on actions.
Health and safety software also makes the following processes as easy and accurate as possible: training, audits, inspections and cataloging assets and equipment.
Investing in a safety software solution can be an excellent way of avoiding costly hazards, risks and noncompliance. The consequence of even a single overlooked incident can have a serious impact on your organization.
Cost Savings: In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that employers pay almost $1 billion per week for direct workers compensation, including both direct and indirect costs. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the U.K., non-fatal injuries come at a cost of £1,900 to the employer on average, amounting to £7,800 after 7 days.
Fewer Fines and Penalties: Not properly adhering to standards and regulations imposed by governing authorities can incur significant costs. In the U.K., a single violation can exceed £110,000. In the U.S., a simple violation, such as not providing a fire extinguisher can cost a business around $129,000, according to Arinite Health and Safety. Criminal charges and jail time are also very real consequences to health and safety violations.
Investing in quality health and safety software systems can help curb these costs. Even a single overlooked hazard or unexpected incident can set your organization back significantly. Software provides you with improved insight across the business, allowing the entire organization to take a proactive role in health and safety.
To really convince decision-makers, use our free operational efficiency ROI calculator to see the potential value of time savings you can realize by joining forces with Evotix.
This calculation is done by looking at the amount of time your company spends on EHS tasks each month, from audits to reporting and investigating. With this information, we should be able to give you a pretty clear picture of the ROI that our company is able to offer — and our guess is that it’s going to make a difference!
Even after going through all the previous steps, leadership may still have a few questions. Here’s what you should say:
“What’s wrong with how we currently do things?”: While there may be nothing wrong with the way you currently do things, there is always room for improvement. Health and safety software is an excellent way to boost your operational performance. Companies that invest significantly in health and safety programming are found to have consistently outperformed other companies. There’s nothing wrong with looking for improvement, rather than staying stuck with the old way of doing things. Research consistently indicates a link between an organization’s investment in health and safety and receiving positive financial results.
“It’s too expensive!”: Health and safety software saves you money in the long run by lowering fines and drastically reducing injury costs. Health and safety software frees up time and increases employee productivity.
The evidence speaks for itself. Investing in health and safety software benefits your people, your revenue and your reputation. While health and safety software comes at a cost, the ROI is transformative for operations.
Evotix is dedicated to providing you with the most user-friendly and intuitive EHS software solution.
To see how our EHS software can provide your company with a higher return on investment, try our safety calculator below!