Back to Basics: Increasing Productivity with EHS Automation – EHS Daily Advisor – EHS Daily Advisor

Back to Basics is a weekly feature that highlights important but possibly overlooked information that any EHS professional should know. This week, we examine automation, the use of automation in EHS reporting, and how it can increase the productivity of the workforce.

New technologies are constantly being invented and distributed to consumers, including versions of artificial intelligence that are used in various ways to make peoples lives simpler. In the EHS industry, there has been a surge of individuals and organizations who are advocating for the automation of EHS processes, especially when it comes to reporting and data collection.

Many companies have come up with their own algorithms and data input resources to help EHS professionals with their jobs, and as this continues to happen, its becoming increasingly important to understand what automated EHS means and how it can impact the workforce. Jake Freivald, the Vice President of Fulcrum, spoke in a recent webinar about the benefits of automation in EHS and what the implementation of artificial intelligence would look like, specifically in the case of safety inspections.

In order to increase productivity and efficiency, EHS leaders should first consider the processes that their employees go through while doing their jobs. Freivald said there are two levels of processes, the workers process, and the enterprises process. The worker, an EHS professional in Freivalds example, may send out a team to do an inspection on-site with checklists, then someone has to return to transcribe that data into a spreadsheet, which is then used as a part of a master spreadsheet that is turned into a report for stakeholders.

This workflow fits into the larger enterprise process, which can involve using the spreadsheets to bill clients and making sure the work being done is remaining in compliance. Freivald stated that in this framework, the data is only useful depending on the quality, which is why it is important to consider the workflow to see if there are any gaps or errors in reporting that can be potentially addressed by automation.

There are many different ways to introduce automation into a workflow or process, and its important to have realistic expectations of what automation can do. Freivald said that rather than artificial intelligence (AI) making every process magically easier, the reality is that AI will likely have a specific set of capabilities that are a solution for a single problem, and it will be able to solve that problem faster than a human.

There are multiple pathways that employ automation and technology that Freivald outlined that are specific to the EHS industry.

In terms of digitizing inspection processes, Freivald recommended finding methods that make it easier for users to input data. When picking between fill-in-the-blank or a pick list with options, choose the pick list. If the worker needs to type in their observations, add in an audio feature so they can use their voice to record what they need to. Break up text and questions into appropriate chunks, and only display certain information or questions when the circumstances make it necessary. Lastly, include diagrams and any other data the user needs in the inspection checklists, and generally simplify more than what might seem necessary. The goal is to streamline processes to increase efficiency.

The first step to increasing productivity with automation is to find parts of the workflow or process where there is a significant amount of data passing between people. Freivald recommended looking for areas where poor data quality has caused significant issues, because automating those data handoffs will reduce transcription errors which makes reporting more efficient and accurate. However, it is important to find a balance when determining which problem to tackle with automation. If the problem or process is too simple, the outcome will not be significant enough for the results to matter, but avoid trying to take on too much at once.

Freivald used remediation as an example, which is a process that basically consists of identifying the problem, communicating it, fixing it, and then communicating the fix. Typically, inspectors will perform inspections, identify issues, and then transcribe the data they found in a report which gets sent to the superintendent. The superintendent will identify issues in the report and contact the remediation crew. Remediators will fix what they need to and make another report, which goes back to the superintendent, who then confirms the remediation and closes out the case. Freivald stated that this process would be easier if automation was used during the first inspection step with data collection, since it would reduce transcription errors and streamline the reporting process.

In terms of measuring success, Freivald said to leverage data flow to create and publish metrics, and he suggested using two different types safety performance and inspection performance. Safety performance metrics can include remediation time and cost, fines, calendar days lost, and person-days lost. Inspection performance metrics can include inspection time and cost, the time workers wait for inspection completion, and safety problems found post-inspection. Freivald also warned against being punitive, and emphasized that punishing hazard reports teaches people not to report hazards, which is not the ideal outcome.

Finally, in order to convince upper management to invest more in automation, AI, and technology in general, EHS leaders should emphasize the end result of more productivity and the downstream effects of that productivity. Freivald said the number one thing to do is focus on specific problems that upper management sees, not just the niche issues. Frame the conversation around how automating inspections or other processes with reduce the number of billing days and the days it takes to send the bill to clients, which will increase the speed at which the company gets paid.

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Back to Basics: Increasing Productivity with EHS Automation - EHS Daily Advisor - EHS Daily Advisor