SharePoint 2007, 2013, 2016
InfoPath
Pharmaceutical
Czech Republic
20 MDs
Workplace safety is an important issue for many organizations, but not all of them have an easy way of dealing with it.
Gathering data about accidents, whether real or potential, in order to prevent future occurrences can be a complex undertaking - one that requires much coordination and collaboration within the corporate hierarchy. Our client's HSE department needed to streamline and simplify this process, and turned to our SharePoint developers to help them do it. The company requested the creation of a software tool to enable staff to conveniently report injuries or dangerous situations that cause them. (Examples of such injuries include: slipping as a result of a water leak, being hit by a heavy falling object, etc..) Thus our task consisted in replacing pen-and-paper accident reporting forms with digital document management solutions.
In order to streamline the accident reporting process - both for the client's organization and the manufacturing plant - our SharePoint consultants first conducted a series of meetings with the representatives of the HSE department.
This helped us fully understand exactly what they required. After carefully analyzing our findings, we created a complex InfoPath form that precisely illustrated the nature of the reported accident using linear branching and an interactive map of the human body. But this form didn't just demonstrate details about the accident - it also featured a behind-the-scenes functionality that executed complex accident resolution SharePoint workflows. One of its key operations was notifying all responsible staff about their need to take appropriate action related to the reported accident.
Our team has delivered a complex InfoPath form solution with the following notable features:
Digitalization of the accident reporting process using SharePoint for document management
Employee involvement: allowing all employees to take part in improving workplace safety
Accident prevention on company premises
Database of all accident reports, including potential accidents to be prevented and real accidents that have already occurred (resolution notes included)
Coverage of the company's entire lifecycle of injury reports
Our digitalization process involved transforming the original accident reporting form - created by a client's internal employee - into a complex InfoPath solution, available on client's SharePoint intranet. One very positive result of our work is its role in promoting workplace safety. That's because the new application was designed to encourage all employees to provide information about (real or potential) workplace injuries, and managers to effectively respond to the submitted reports. The software achieved this goal by offering staff a convenient user interface to communicate the facts, and management a powerful toolset to view and act on the data. These benefits show that our team's efforts were successful, but they are not the end of story; there was more to be done. In fact, we have often modified our implementation over the years to keep pace with the client's evolving needs. This meant updating the form to comply with the company's changes in health and safety rules.