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An effective safety program should never remain stagnant; it needs to constantly evolve and grow as technology advances. Performance Contracting, Inc. (PCI), known for its award-winning safety culture, was exploring options that could take its safety program to an even higher level.
"Working in an industrial setting, you encounter safety hazards you don't have on typical commercial job sites," said Blake Salem, operations manager at PCI. "Hazards such as confined spaces, working from elevation, and the presence of gasses create challenging environments."
After carefully evaluating its options, PCI made the decision to equip its field team at WA Parish Generating Station with Blackline Safety's G7 gas detector and lone worker monitoring system.
G7 is a complete personal safety monitor that pushes beyond conventional gas detection. G7 was designed from the ground up, to support environmental gas detection, lone worker monitoring, evacuation management, two-way voice communication, text messaging, and complete customization. A choice of sensors tailors gas detection to every working environment, and online user accounts make it simple to configure devices to meet the needs of every team.
"Our goal was to maximize the use of technology on-site to not only increase safety performance, but to help us in terms of productivity and accountability as well," Salem said. "The G7 system is a fantastic piece of technology that helps us achieve those goals."
In addition to providing reliable and comprehensive safety measures, G7 also gives PCI's team full situational awareness by streaming real-time data to make informed decisions that impact employee safety and productivity. G7 devices automatically collect and stream more data than ever before to the cloud, totaling more than 126 billion data points from G7 devices deployed across the world. Companies can access their own data through easy-to-understand reports to gain insights into how and where equipment is being used, where hazards are taking place, compliance status and more.
"Gaining complete visibility – who is on your site, where they are and reacting to a safety incident as quickly as possible – has traditionally been a large challenge for companies. Our technology allows companies to see real-time where incidents are happening and retroactively address safety or productivity concerns through data," said Sean Stinson, vice president of sales and product management for Blackline Safety. "Understanding what PCI was aiming to do, we immediately recognized the impact G7 could have on its safety program and overall operational efficiency."
To date, Blackline has responded to 5.5 million safety alerts and increased productivity by 500,000 man-hours across its customers using G7 devices.
"In addition to real-time gas detection, we've also used them to measure personnel flow," said Doug Black, construction manager at PCI. "For example, we've used them to make sure we don't overstaff production areas, creating a trade stacking environment. We've also used it to track the night shift crew to ensure they have not entered any danger zones or restricted non-production areas."
Since starting the pilot program with the G7 devices several months ago, PCI has been pleased by the results. The company has seen positive trends in overall production by adjusting work areas based on the GPS data to make the job site layout more conducive to getting work done efficiently (break areas, travel routes, supervision staying in designated work areas.) Having a live feed of all employees, allows PCI to make real-time adjustments – maintaining very proactive – not reactive – day-to-day operations at its sites.
"The data that you can dissect from this software is endless, and can be adjusted depending on each site requirements and customer needs," Salem said. "This data will also be used for history to show our proven work methods to existing and new customers."
PCI is very excited to launch phase 2 of this pilot program and start it at other sites with multiple crafts.
For more information, visit www.performancecontracting.com or call 281-817-9625.
