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Managing your compliance and related management systems can be a time consuming, overwhelming task. If you don't have a team in your business dedicated to managing this, it is easy for it to get out of control.
In this video, I have provided my top reasons that you should consider a compliance HSEQ Software to manage your systems. If you keep watching till the end of the video, I have outlined a the number 1 tip that I give to all of my clients considering investing in a compliance software option.
1. Consistency of critical processes
Something we have found over our many years of consulting is that a lot of our customers have been in the situation where there are inconsistencies of processes. This is especially prominent for businesses that have multiple sites spread apart.
Regardless of the system your business has in place (food safety, health and safety, quality), it is important that this system is consistent across all sites.
If for example, you've had a serious harm injury - this needs to be reported through a consistent accident incident assessment. This way, the evidence can be used to demonstrate what happened for the injury to occur.
A good software product will automatically give you consistency across sites. You can decide on the workflow you want to use, then apply this to all sites within your business. Using software will give you the capabilities to do this a lot faster and simpler than a traditional paper-based system.
2. Creates one repository
Another thing we often see when helping customers, is that they do not have one system. They think they do, but it's fragmented. It's a collection of procedures and registers in the compliance managers filing cabinet.
A good software product can create one repository that captures everything related to the system.
This is certainly a major benefit in an audit situation, because you do not have to chase around trying to find information - you will be 100% certain of where it is.
3. Make use of the data in your system
A lot of organisations don't realise they are doing this but they seem to use a paper-based system or a SharePoint to gather data, create records and then just park it. They leave the information in the files and never do anything with it.
If the software system you invest in is good, it should give you capabilities to do something with the data in your system, such as create graphs and charts that can then be passed on to top management.
As well as that, reporting functionality can enable you to report at any time. For example, incident and accident reporting can be done immediately and not be forgotten.
Reporting to management on time and consistently, rather than having it found out later down the track that we've had a serious injury is going to be a much more beneficial approach.
4. Keep on top of recurrent compliance deliverables
We've got a lot of clients in the food and wine industries who have a sheer volume of compliance deliverables to carry out - so that they know they are meeting regulations and meeting customer expectations.
Their businesses can be at risk if they do not keep on top of these tasks. They can loose business with customers, or fall behind on regulatory requirements. But if they have a software system in place, this should allow them to schedule events and assign them to certain people with reminders attached so that nothing gets forgotten.
Essentially, you can know at any given point in time that you are complying with what's required. That's a much more advanced position to be in, compared to a food safety manager having to prepare a monthly report based on data that's already a month old.
5. Enables access to all staff
If there's a good software product, it should extend the access beyond just the compliance team. Yes, the compliance team often are the main people interacting with the system and raising things, but you should and could be giving access to all staff within the organisation.
It is important that all staff know how to raise:
Improvements
Accidents/incidents
Inspections
Events
Risks
Organisations that do value staff participation through a software system will see more improvement opportunities identified, which is very valuable to their business.
6. You get your time back
A good software product should give time back to the compliance team to do what's really important. All of us have been in the situation where we've got to slug through paperwork because we've got to demonstrate compliance. It's not productive or effective.
Using software allows you to get back to what's really important - getting out there in the workplace, keeping our eyes and ears open and ensuring hazards are actually being managed.
You will also get the chance to interact with the team doing the job and think of risk mitigation strategies before issues occur.
Top Tip: Understand Your Compliance Objectives
We do see customers get caught up in the functionality - they start thinking "what does different software do?"
Take it up a level over that.
Really understand your compliance objectives, what kind of pain or difficulties are you having with your current system? If you clearly understand that, then you can go out and find software that helps you address your specific issues.
If you would like to know more about HSEQ Compliance Software and how this can be slotted into your organisation, feel free to get in contact, or check out our website.
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