3 key takeaways
- Stronger control of simultaneous operation risks at a high-activity food-processing industrial site, thanks to a shared, real-time view of the work being done by internal teams and outside companies.
- Safer field operations through the digitalisation of prevention plans and work permits, integrating scheduling, regulatory traceability, and the handling of site-specific constraints (explosive atmospheres, confined spaces, work at heights).
- More effective, seamless QHSE oversight, based on dynamic mapping of simultaneous operations, automated workflows, and consolidated indicators that make it easier for everyone to communicate and to prevent accident-prone situations.
A food-processing industrial group that processes oilseeds turned to BlueKanGo to track the simultaneous operations of its own employees as well as those of outside companies working at its industrial site.
Indeed, many workers from outside companies are present every day. Their safety is a real concern, both because of the risks tied to simultaneous operations and because of their unfamiliarity with the site's infrastructure and with the good practices specific to the site or the industry.
Simultaneous operation risks at the heart of field work
The infrastructure required to process oilseeds creates significant risks for field teams. Work at heights, in confined spaces, or in explosive-atmosphere (ATEX) zones, these are all daily situations that led the manufacturer to put in place procedures governing work where the risk of fatal injury cannot be ruled out.
The host employers are trained and systematically complete the Prevention Plans and Work Permits for each job. However, the 3x8 shift production schedule and the presence of multiple host employers made the various jobs on site difficult to track and at times accident-prone. Scheduling did not account for jobs that were already planned, and information did not flow effectively to the site's safety department during shift changes.
The manufacturer therefore wanted to digitalise its Prevention Plans and Work Permits to simplify communication and make the risks tied to simultaneous operations visible to everyone, at every stage of the process.
How did BlueKanGo meet this need?
To address the manufacturer's challenges, BlueKanGo's QHSE experts carried out an in-depth analysis of existing practices in order to design a solution suited to the operational and regulatory constraints. This collaborative approach made it possible to define a tool centred on managing work permits and prevention plans, incorporating the specific features of simultaneous operations.
The solution put in place relies on an interconnection with the maintenance ERP, ensuring that scheduled jobs are automatically captured and that data stays consistent. Each prevention plan is systematically linked to the work permits of the outside companies, ensuring full traceability and the secure management of jobs. Creating new documents is made easier by duplicating existing versions, while automatic alerts support the tracking of deadlines and the archiving of plans that have reached their end date.
Designed for field use, the platform is accessible from smartphone and tablet, allowing documents to be consulted and signed electronically directly on site. Signatures can be requested from several people to ensure the continuity of the process. Finally, geolocating jobs on the site map, day by day, strengthens operational tracking and meets regulatory traceability requirements.
What are the benefits in the field?
For the host company
The host companies (the principal) fill in pre-populated templates through duplication and by carrying over data from other forms. They draw on the simultaneous-operations risk map to make sure that workers will not be exposed to additional risks. Work permits are drafted and signed directly in the field, taking into account the actual working environment of the job.
For internal team leaders
Shift leaders are immediately alerted to any job taking place in their area of responsibility and to any hot-work permit rounds to be carried out. They can also view these on the simultaneous-operations risk map. At each shift, they re-validate the permits in progress through e-signature.
For the QHSE department
The safety department is alerted automatically as soon as its approval is required for a Prevention Plan. Each day, the safety officers draw on the simultaneous-operations map to adapt their Gemba walk in the food-processing plant, meet with the workers, and ensure that the defined rules are being followed.
For outside companies
Outside companies have secure, limited access to the BlueKanGo platform, allowing them to update their information; consult their prevention plans, work permits, and visitor documents; and comment on and sign the mandatory documents online.
For outside workers
Outside workers receive the documents automatically by email. This ensures that the Prevention Plan and the associated Work Permits are present directly on the job site. Internally, workers have view-only access to their documents on the BlueKanGo platform.
What difference does it make?
The principals gain in efficiency and save time: the information in the Prevention Plan is checked in advance and, thanks to pre-population, the various forms are filled in more quickly, with no re-entry. Oversights are also avoided thanks to alerts and reminders.
What's more, the risk map produced in advance makes simultaneous operations more visual. They are better tracked and better controlled.
Clear indicators are automatically compiled in a dashboard, providing an in-depth, concrete view of simultaneous operations. Tracking is then easier for the QHSE department and can be exported to support the monthly safety steering meetings.
A distribution circuit (workflow) informs the various stakeholders in real time of any job (even last-minute ones) or any change in how activities unfold. In this way, the simultaneous-operations management process is structured, allowing significant time savings as well as adherence to the defined steps.
