Organizations are observing untold change in how they conceive, operate and audit their respiratory protection programs with the wave of digital tools and applications. For EHS managers and C-suite executives this shift is more than a convenience; it is to velocity, consistency, and defensible compliance. A well-designed solid of online platform turns disparate paperwork into actionable insights and real-time oversight.
Online Medical Evaluations
Organizations are moving away from paper packets to a more direct online approach that securely facilitates sending workers through a clinician approved questionnaire in minutes. This approach eliminates early visits to the clinic, shortens the wait time, and makes it simple to secure temporary, seasonal, or new labor placements. If concerns are identified, the clinician can escalate to a telehealth or in-person review, while not breaking the digital (chain of custody).
Teams can also collaborate the fit test for respirator scheduling with the medical results, which means no one is tested for the respirator before they are medically cleared to do so. If done correctly, the online respirator medical clearance is fast, and high confidence gate that protects both workers and production schedules. Aggregate dashboards also provide a snapshot of the completion of clearances by site, trade and contractor.
Digital Record Management
Effectively managing paper logs, and shared spreadsheets can lead to slow audits and errors in record keeping. Centralized repository style systems pull together all medical clearances, fit-test results, and training records in one single source of truth. This system can meet the need of managing records from a single jobsite to a global footprint. Administrators can have many levels of access and record retention, and auditors can verify histories without needing to chase files down in other departments.
- The administration of digital fit-test records links each result directly to the model, size, protocol, and tester credentials, enhancing traceability.
- Supervisors will have full visibility with role-based permissions but still protect private health information.
- Time-stamped activity logs record the exact time a document is created, viewed, or modified. There will also be time-stamped information for archiving documents that will provide a strong level of legal defensibility.
Automation Benefits
Automation removes the guesswork from activities that are repetitive and difficult for a human to replicate with reliability at scale. Rules built into the software will expire and remind to post that clearances are current. The workflow will not allow fit testing until medical approval is on file, while also prompting employees to complete training before the mobilization date for that site.
When using the respiratory protection program software, a manager will auto-generate an OSHA-ready report to help visually map gaps by site or contractor, identifying root causes faster when responding after an incident. This frees up overtime for safety crews, and allows upper management to monitor constituency impact and/or risks in near real-time; for example, by using APIs to tie the rules to approaches like badging systems and LMS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system).
Mobile Access for Employees
Field work is done away from a desk, so the programs are won or lost based on access to and efficiency in the mobile environment. Workers will want a few simple actions to think quickly and easily on the phone, during breaks, or at a gate. If a kiosk function is put on related tablets, that can provide opportunities for crews to meet requisite steps at muster points or trailers. Whether there is full connectivity a good app should walk employees ‘step by step’ through their use, and if there is syncing or company is available and then connected, it will occur.
- Push Notifications will trigger the renewal timeline and provide the right document to the right user at the right time on EHS compliance dashboard.
- Wallet passes and QR codes will help gate guards verify clearance and fit test status in seconds to support OSHA 1910.134 at entrance. To learn more, click here.
- While mistakes happen, incorporating multi-language prompts and accessibility features may help reduce mistakes so that new hires can be productive and safe on the first day.
Future Trends in Safety
Artificial intelligence will continuously identify anomalies, such as a rise in failed fit tests for a specific model, so that managers can employ various methods to address the items before risk increases. In addition, data from connected PPE and smart badges will provide documentation of who wore what, where it was worn, and create an offering of exposure history when investigating and improve organization of exposure tasks.
Lastly, with tighter API integrations with HRIS, contractor portals, and incident systems, organizations will no longer have the added burden of entering duplicate data, creating a closed loop information system from hiring to offboarding.
Expect regulators to ultimately accept machine-readable audit packets – putting together audit packets should be only minutes not weeks. The outcome for the organization will be not only compliance but an organization that experiences continuous learning and is always prepared for the next audit.
