In our experience as a reliable digital EHS technology partner – the most often asked question is not only related to the budgetary concerns but also encompasses the crucial living components of inter- and co-dependent EHS ecosystem – the human capital.

Here are our thoughts over 14+ years of our global service in providing outstanding digital EHS services and solutions to multitudinous domains that are complex, both on-shore and off-shore as well as in some cases require a completely bespoke set of requirements built within its digital platforms.

Think outcomes and not results

Outcomes are derived from planned exercise and execution while results can simply be produced even with a hack job – the key distinction between them – “measurability”. EHS transformation via digital platforms should encompass and navigate the course of compliance and statutory requirements by objective goal setting and strategic course mapping. These in turn deliver a holistic understanding of what’s happening inside your workplace. Thus, measuring outcomes instead of relative results provides you and your safety team the actual workplace compliance status.

Make people part of it as early as possible

Peel away the layers of secrecy and closed-door discussions and involve your workplace inputs from the people who run these environments and it’ll allow the digital transformation to take place, gradually and seamlessly. One of our leading partners based in Malaysia, in the chemical industry saw the benefits of workplace ownership in EHS transformation and this allowed them with a superior turnaround time in reinforcing operational risk management via permit to work system.

Ask questions and deep dive

Digital platforms are now more and more intuitive than say a decade ago – therefore, they have absorbed some of the baseline logic and rule-engine based intelligence within them. However, do not assume that digital platforms as the magic bullet for all EHS issues. These are tools and tools require deft hands and trained minds to be wielded correctly.

Ask your vendor about how the organization alleviates the training and learning experience. Is there a pilot testing phase that can help them stabilise a large deployment? Every little matter and the more you ask, counts towards the successful deployment of digital EHS platform.

Legacy data and old troubles

If your organization has legacy data stored in formats that do not have the modern support – well, it is time now to decide its fate. Training support for data management and warehousing in EHS is a specialised service and therefore would be more expensive than others. However, if you can find a middle path where the data can by plied and converted into simpler bits and pieces, your EHS software vendor should be willing to oblige. Again, asking your way around is better than isolated research without much input from the technology side. Take your time and understand your data ‘needs’ and it never hurts to ask the right technology vendor.

Explore, evaluate and expedite

Operational risk, EHS management, occupational health, incident management etc. are all co-dependent or interdependent components and their derived functions within the EHS ecosystem. One cannot flourish without the help of other and sometimes one’s performance cannot be truly assessed without considering the stakeholder ship of the other. Therefore, explore the EHS dynamics of your workplace environment – the risk management, exposure and worker wellbeing as well as immediate benefits to be delivered by hand-held digital platform advantage (few amongst the list of many).

Training for digital resources is simpler in modern times due to the aforementioned intuitive nature of interface and our mode of perception – however, small group testing and train the trainer programmes are provided by the right technology vendors to harness maximum potential out of the digital systems.

Vendor choice should not only objectively evaluate cost benefits but the long-term support, train the trainer prospect and on-site training partnership to boost your workplace’s potential.

We’ve explored similar themes on finer points and nuances in our earlier blogs within the software section.

Do let us know what you think about the modern objective of digitization, digital platforms for EHS and its human impact assessment.