The safety and wellbeing of employees is a priority for every business. For Williams Electrical Service it is paramount.
“We operate in a high-risk, licensed and heavily regulated industry,” says Melissa Coutas, the company’s Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) Manager. “We have more legal requirements and compliance obligations than companies in some other sectors.” Williams Electrical Service (WES), based in Perth, Western Australia, employs close to 100 people in three separate divisions – Electrical, Fuel, and Security. By 2018, the company’s legacy Health and Safety Systems were starting to wilt under the pressure. “Everything was paper-based, and the analysis and reporting were done manually using Excel spreadsheets,” says IT Manager Mike Scott. “It was definitely time to upgrade to a software solution and we looked at a number of different options before deciding on SCRIM.”
A comprehensive solution
“ It’s so easy to access and follow for the workers in the field ” – Melissa Coutas
SCRIM Safety First is a cloud-based workplace health and safety management solution built on the Microsoft Power Platform. With over 40 modules, SCRIM can manage health and safety in the workplace including reporting and analyzing hazards, incidents, injuries and risks.
“It met our expectations right from the start,” Melissa says. “Before SCRIM, one report was going through five different sets of hands so the data could be captured. Now we’ve moved right away from paper reporting. The workers on the ground simply input data through the worker portal on their mobile deviceand everyone can view it in real-time.” For WES, ease of use is one of the biggest benefits of SCRIM. “It’s so easy to access and follow for the workers in the field,” Melissa says. “They can be a bit skeptical about new processes but, with SCRIM, you genuinely can follow the bouncing ball and get right to the end of each module. And, as they’re all built on the same platform, one set of rules applies. You don’t have to remember a lot of different logins or ways of doing things.”
“After a day or two you can begin rolling it out to your team and build on it from there…” – Melissa Coutas
Melissa also appreciates how quickly SCRIM can be implemented. “You don’t have to spend a considerable amount of time customizing, developing, and creating what you want,” she says. “After a day or two, you can begin rolling it out to your team and build on it from there. It has all the benefits of being an out of the box solution but, as it’s also customizable, you can easily tailor it to your company and industry requirements.”
A new provider
In 2019, Clade – a Brennan company, added SCRIM to its portfolio of Microsoft offerings. “We had a good relationship with our original provider, so we were a bit nervous about working with someone new,” says Mike. “In fact, the relationship and communications went from good to even better. The changeover was much more straightforward than we thought it might be and, whenever we’ve needed anything, Clade has been responsive and listened to our input.”
There have been no problems at all with being on the other side of Australia. “In fact, the time difference can work in our favour,” Melissa adds. “If work needs to be done that will cause part of the system to be down for a while Clade can access it early in the morning Eastern Standard Time, before our people start work on the West coast.”
A new dashboard
Over the past 12 months SCRIM has continued to live up to expectations.
“We haven’t needed to make any changes to the product itself, though we’re working with Clade to develop the Power Business Intelligence Dashboard,” Mike says. “We’ll be trialing that with them soon.”
Melissa can hardly wait. “I do a lot of monthly and quarterly reporting and, at the moment, each one takes hours if not days,” she says. “Once the dashboard is up and running the process will be a lot less cumbersome and time-consuming. I’ll be able to draw on real-time data to analyze and evaluate our Group’s performance at any time.”
An efficient team
“Now we also have Clade onside, we’re confident we can continue to monitor our employees’ health and safety performance and respond to any new requirements or challenges that may arise.” – Mike Scott
Mike understands the technical nature of Microsoft platforms and the way SCRIM works while Melissa understands the health and safety processes.
“There’s no way we could have got to where we are today without a collaborative approach,” Mike says. “As with any other system, it’s important to know exactly what you want it to do as well as understanding it technically.
Now we also have Clade onside, we’re confident we can continue to monitor our employees’ health and safety performance and respond to any new requirements or challenges that may arise.”
Support
Clade began the work in January 2020 and the system went live in April.
“We added to the scope of the original project and that put an extra six to eight weeks on the program, but Clade kept to their timetable and budget,” Brakell says.
Joynes was particularly impressed by Clade’s support. “They were helpful with everything from the initial research to making the most of CAMS,” she says. “We’re not IT people so it’s wonderful they’ve been with us every step of the way.”
