Sponsored by Published by
The 2017 Safety Automation & Technology Trends Survey was launched in early July 2017 by EHS
Daily Advisor. The responses paint a real-world picture of how safety professionals are using new
technologies to manage the many challenges that they face every day.
We would like to extend our thanks to all the professionals who chose to participate in the survey.
55 %
of survey participants have a safety
information management or administration
MOST POPULAR DATA
COLLECTION METHODS
PAPER FORMS
system implemented at their companies.
73%
EXCEL SHEETS ON A COMPUTER OR TABLET
57%
WEB-BASED MOBILE APPLICATION
18 % 30 %
NATIVE MOBILE APPLICATION
70 %
76 %
MANUAL SCHEDULING USING A CALENDAR
COMPUTER DIRECTORIES (E.G., MICROSOFT
WINDOWS FILE STRUCTURE OR EXCEL)
67% 37%
SYSTEM-BASED SCHEDULING USING A CALENDAR
E-MAIL AND RESOURCE LEVELING
39% 34%
ON-PREMISES FORMS/REPORTS MANAGEMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL
SYSTEM (E.G., SHAREPOINT OR DOCUMENTUM)
36 % 21%
CORPORATE IT SYSTEM (E.G., SAP OR ORACLE) PAPER-BASED DISPATCH
23 %
19 %
ANALYTICS AND REPORTING
63 %
USE EXCEL FOR ANALYTICS
AND REPORTING
24%
ON-PREMISES ANALYTICS TOOL THAT INCLUDES DASHBOARD AND REPORTS
20%
13
%
dont perform any
CLOUD-BASED ANALYTICS TOOL analytics or reporting
within their companies
15 % safety programs.
PLANNING FOR SAFETY
1
TOP 3
2JOB
SAFETY
DATA
SHEET
(SDS)
3
RISK ASSESSMENT METHODS HAZARD
ASSESSMENT FAILURE MODE
(JHA) EFFECTS
ANALYSIS
(FMEA)
29%
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO)
TOP 3 EXECUTIVE POSITIONS
SAFETY GETS REPORTED TO
25 %
VP OF HUMAN RESOURCES
12%
WHO COMPLETES KEY SAFETY-RELATED PROCEDURES?
WALKTHROUGHS &
OBSERVATION 78% 58% 29% 22%
ILLNESS/INJURY
REPORTS 71% 59% 24% 17%
EQUIPMENT OPERATOR
CHECKLISTS 20% 32% 28% 73%
SITE/WORK AREA
CHECKLISTS 46% 61% 41% 6%
HAZARD
IDENTIFICATIONS
80% 63% 42% 38%
There are many opportunities for automation in safetyperhaps more than most EHS professionals realize.
This list ranks, by ratio, the program elements that survey respondents deemed very important to automate:
INCREASE EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION AND COMPLIANCE ABILITY TO QUICKLY UPDATE AND DISTRIBUTE SAFETY FORMS
1 6
48% 31%
ANALYZE WHERE PREVENTIVE AUTOMATE ACCESS TO SDS
ACTION WOULD HAVE THE MOST IMPACT DOCUMENTS AND REGULATION ARTICLES:
2 7
38% 28%
ENSURE ALL EMPLOYEES AUTOMATE INFORMATION TO INDIVIDUAL OR GROUPS
WORK CERTIFICATIONS HAVE NOT EXPIRED
3 8
36 % 27%
AUTOMATE COMPILATION OF ALL SAFETY
EMBED SAFETY CHECKS IN JOB ACTIVITIES METRICS ACROSS ALL SITES AND PROJECTS
4 9
36% 27%
TRANSFER MORE SAFETY MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY
TO SUPERVISORS, FIELD EMPLOYEES AND OPERATORS AUTOMATE PERIODIC REGULATORY REPORTING
5 10
31% 25%
TOP 5 IMPACTS OF AUTOMATION
Respondents who have used technology to automate their safety programs ranked state-
ments about the impact of safety automation in the following order:
55 %
TOOLS TO BE DEPLOYED
WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR
ONLINE TRAINING
44%
MOBILE FORMS
28%
27%
of those polled said that it is likely or very
ON-PREMISES FORMS/REPORTS
likely that their companies will achieve their MANAGEMENT AND STORAGE
safety goals in 2017.
26 %
SURVEY FIRMOGRAPHICS INDUSTRY
The 466 participants in the 2017 Safety Automation & Technology Trends Survey come from a wide Here are the top five industries
variety of job positions, industries, and company sizes. Here are some of the facts about the profes- represented by our response pool:
sionals in the response pool: 1. Manufacturing (37%)
2. Construction (15%)
3. Other (12%)
Other roles represented included:
4. Utilities (5%)
5. (TIE) Health care and social assistance
Executive (VP or higher): 3%
and Public administration (both 4%)
52 %
characterized their
Director of Safety, EHS or HR: 13%
HR or other manager: 8%
For the 12% of participants who indicated their
industry as Other, specified industries include:
job title as Chemical distribution
SAFETY OR Consultant or contractor: 7%
Aerospace
EHS MANAGER.
Front-line supervisor 6% Safety consulting
Research and development
Nonprofit
Company size ran the gamut from very small to very large businesses.
Here are the represented organizational sizes by number of employees:
13 %
13 %
17 %
24
100-249
%
500-999 EMPLOYEES 1,000-4,999 EMPLOYEES 5,000 + EMPLOYEES EMPLOYEES