As a field service business leader, it's your responsibility to ensure that your workers are safe and that your operations are compliant. Failure to meet compliance laws and regulations, such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, could put your business at risk of severe operational, financial and reputational damage.
However, it can be tricky to maintain strict compliance when you don't have the right tools or complete visibility over your operations.
Thankfully, there are plenty of ways that you can use modern technology to run your organisation compliantly. Read on to learn how to improve compliance within your field service operations using BigChange's job management software.
How to Improve Compliance: Four Top Tips
Running your field service operations compliantly doesn't have to be a headache. With the right solution in place, you and your employees can maintain accurate records, carry out work according to rules and regulations, and protect customer data all on one platform.
Here are just some of the ways you can improve compliance using state-of-the-art workforce management software:
1. Complete a Risk Assessment
Not only will a risk assessment help you to identify any potential hazards in the workplace, but it's also a legal requirement to document it if you employ five or more people.
There are several pieces of information you must note when carrying out a risk assessment:
- Which hazards the assessor identified
- The persons or groups that could be affected
- The methods your organisation put in place to mitigate risks
- Who is monitoring the preventative measures
- Who carried out the assessment
- The date of the assessment
You must also show that you've taken measures to mitigate risks that comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act and associated regulations.
Historically, field service businesses have relied on humble clipboards and pens to conduct their risk assessments. But, traditional manual methods of detailing workplace hazards are inefficient and challenging to keep a record of for future reference.
Instead, when using a field service management system with built-in health & safety features, you can keep a digital record of all risk assessments for easy access. Plus, you can use your findings to create method statements in the system, which all engineers will have access to, ensuring that they carry out all work safely and compliantly.
For guidance on how to carry out a risk assessment, click here.
2. Enhance Your Communication Methods
When it comes to health and safety compliance, communication is critical. Engaged employees are five times less likely to have a safety incident than non-engaged employees. Therefore, you should ensure that every member of your team has access to essential information.
BigChange's field service software for iOS and Android provides your engineers with everything they need to know in the palm of their hands. Then, once your workers have completed a job, they can fill out all the necessary paperwork from their mobile device and send it straight back to the office in real-time.
You can set mandatory fields in each document to ensure that your technicians are carrying out work compliantly. For example, you can require your workers to attach photos of their completed projects or obtain customers' signatures.
As a result of improving communication between technicians and back-office staff and providing necessary information upfront, you'll find that your workers can operate more compliantly. Additionally, by streamlining your processes, your workers can maximise their time to complete more jobs per day.
3. Create Mandatory Workflows for Field Technicians
Not only can intelligent, digital workflow automation increase productivity by 20%, but it also ensures that your technicians are working compliantly.
With the BigChange job management software, you set your own workflows in the system that technicians must follow. The workflows prevent your engineers from carrying out any work until they've electronically confirmed that they have followed all your health and safety protocols beforehand.
The system also allows you to create multiple vehicle-specific or role-specific safety checks. Your team will also have access to all previous tests, enabling them to view outstanding defects and fix or reconcile issues directly from the app.
4. Manage Confidential Customer Information Digitally
Keeping records is an essential part of running a business. However, when all your documentation is paper-based, you have to find somewhere to store it and potentially hire staff to manage the filing system. Not to mention that you run the risk of breaching GDPR (general data protection regulation) if you don't manage customer information correctly.
In contrast, BigChange's CRM system enables you to carry out GDPR compliant management of individuals' data and give your customers opt-in preferences, so they have peace of mind that your team has recorded their information with their consent.
Most importantly, our software is cloud-based, meaning that all information is highly protected. Consequently, you and your customers can rest assured that all confidential information will remain that way.
Guarantee that Your Field Service Operations are Compliant with BigChange
Your people are your most important asset.
Using our leading Field Service Management Software will give you the power to keep your employees working safely and ensure their personal information is secure and up-to-date.
With our online driver behaviour analysis, risk assessments, method statements and vehicle walkaround checks, you can rest assured that health and safety are a number one priority.
Want to find out more?
Discover how the BigChange complete Job Management Platform can make your business grow stronger here and arrange a freedemo today.
