We worked with a US-based founder who started his construction safety business to help reduce the alarming number of safety incidents on construction sites.
More than 1 in 5 workplace deaths occur in the construction industry, so keeping workers safe and away from harm is a real priority.
Whilst working on construction sites across the US, the founder had witnessed the significance of maintaining safety for workers and conducting thorough assessments of potential hazards.
Business need
As an industry in need of modernisation, the construction sector has the potential to benefit from digitisation in many ways.
A long-standing difficulty has been the disconnect between classroom safety training and how it relates to actual work carried out. Using training videos filmed on the job can be an effective way to bridge the gap. This approach allows employees to see firsthand how safety procedures are applied in real-world scenarios, making the training more relevant and engaging.
By making the videos available via an app, employees can easily access the training materials on their own time and revisit them as needed. Additionally, the app would be able to track the employee’s progress, ensuring that they have completed all necessary training as well as providing a record of their training history for their manager to access.
With an over-reliance on paper form filling, resulting in communication lags, the digitisation of important information such as emergency contacts and real-time reporting of incidents would also help managers gain better insights about safety and prevention.
The project
The founder had previously commissioned another company to develop a safety platform but was disappointed with what they had delivered.
He approached Atom CTO to help design, build and take-to-market his idea for an app which would simplify safety processes on a construction site.
The app would make training more relatable and accessible to workers, save admin time as well as improve documentation, data tracking and communication for managers and on-site teams.
Atom began by examining the requirements of the app and producing an in-depth project brief and technology roadmap.
Atom partnered with Resonate for the UI and UX. They set out the app interface in Figma which enabled the founder and his team to envisage the user journey and scenarios in which the app could help.
Outcomes
The first deliverable was the MVP of an app which:
- Enables employees to access digital training materials on a mobile. The nature of training resources can be tailored to an employee’s specific work tasks.
- Allows for swift on-site risk assessment tracking carried out by the foreman, with the ability to record who was present, the tasks and risks, photos of the site as well as logging of any incidents from the day.
- Provides managers with digital access to insights and reporting on risks and incidents occurring on each site.
- Digitisation of a worker’s emergency contact details should an accident occur.
The app is enabling construction sites to streamline data processes, better manage their safety risks and improve training provision among the workforce.
Next steps
As development continues, the app will incorporate online training videos so that workers can access training on demand. It will also feature improved reporting capability so that managers can track who has taken which training, identify any gaps and ensure that crews have been trained correctly before they are assigned tasks.
The construction safety company hopes to get funding for this innovative solution and roll it out to other construction companies so that they can also improve their approach to risk management and ultimately keep their workers safe.