Digital app is transforming health and safety at Lanes

Health and safety across the depot network operated by drainage specialist Lanes Group plc is being “transformed” by a new digital phone app.

Directors, managers, and supervisors can use the SHE app 24 hours a day to access health and safety information, record inspection data, and report events.

Benefits have included increased health and safety inspections and an improvement in real time event reporting, both of which are helping to reduce workplace risks.

Lanes Group HSQE Manager Paul McParland said: “The app is helping us respond faster and more effectively to health and safety issues, and to plan improvements. It’s transforming the way we manage risk.”

The SHE app allows functions to be accessed via a smart phone or tablet. It has been comprehensively rolled out over the last 18 months, involving all levels of management from directors to supervisors.

The app is a mobile portal for Lanes Group’s SHE digital platform, which is used to record and communicate HSEQ data and messages about changes in standards and controls within the Lanes Group.

It is used to underpin both strategic and everyday decision-making across the national network of 23 Lanes Group depots, and the seven depots operated by sister company UKDN Waterflow (LG) Ltd.

Paul McParland said: “The app has allowed us to more easily review, agree and adopt common occupational health, safety, environmental and quality standards across depot networks, and then monitor them more effectively.

“This has created a benchmark that we can use to promote continuous improvement. We can also assess more thoroughly what is happening in the field, and give advice in real-time, supported by clear, recorded evidence.”

As well as leading directly to an increase in health and safety inspections, the app allows the gathering of photographic evidence that can be used for giving advice and training.

In the last 12 months, it has supported a programme focusing on compliance with manhole guarding, and improvements in recognition of, and protection against, slip, trip and fall events.

As a digital system, managed via smart phones and tablets, the app has also greatly reduced the amount of paper records generated within Lanes, reducing print costs and improving sustainability of operations.