Sandvik Secures Advanced Remote Worker Management

Sandvik Rock Tools is a division of the global engineering group, Sandvik. The company is a leading supplier of equipment and tools, services and technical solutions for the mining and construction industries. Sandvik Rock Tools offers a comprehensive range of specialised equipment for bench drilling, raise boring, coal and mineral cutting, tunnelling, trenching, road grading and cold planning. Sandvik has 20 facilities throughout Australia and many employees are required to travel to remote worksites to provide onsite maintenance, service and assistance to clients.

Sandvik Rock Tools previously took a manual approach to their journey management processes. This included use of call in/call out systems, whiteboards and other paper based processes that potentially presented risks due to the possibility of human error. This made the administration and supervision of remote employees a challenge. Sandvik Rock Tools employees frequently travel to client sites to undertake their work. These are often remote commutes that require travel over extensive distances, in inhospitable regions. Serious threats are posed by both heat and geographical isolation.

Quality assurance and efficiency were a challenge with the systems previously in place to monitor the safety of their remote workers.

Sandvik Rock Tools selected SafetyIQ Remote Worker Management software based on the recommendation of three new staff who had previously worked with SafetyIQ. Endorsement from personally experienced employees set high expectations that SafetyIQ would be a hassle-free solution for journey and remote worker safety management. For Sandvik Rock Tools, the priorities were dependability and useability. The three staff who had previously used SafetyIQ were confident that it would meet the rock tool team’s needs.

These expectations were met from day one, with the ease of signup being of particular note. Reliability and ease of use were the fundamental criteria considered when making a selection. SafetyIQ Remote Worker Management software effectively removed the human error from the previous manual monitoring and escalation processes.

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Onboarding

SafetyIQ Remote Worker Management software was implemented with minimal disruption to internal procedures and personnel routines.

Once an Activity commences, SafetyIQ sends SMS and email alerts to a User to ensure they Check-In safely at the location in their Activity plan. Users simply reply ‘YES’ to the SMS or Check-In online, confirming their safety. Should a User fail to respond to the Check-In alert, a notification is sent to predetermined Escalation Contacts by SMS and email. The organisation can then immediately follow their authorised safety protocols.

The implementation of a seamless and labour free solution to remote worker management and monitoring has been instrumental in the optimisation of internal safety operations. Knowing where employees are and having the peace of mind that they are safe has made the job easier and more efficient for supervisors. Beyond monitoring the whereabouts of remote employees, SafetyIQ’s User Activity Report has also created efficiencies by providing reports to clients to verify the number of site visits made in a given timeframe.

The feedback from Sandvik Rock Tools personnel was that SafetyIQ proved economic, easy to use and convenient to monitor, and largely removed the human error from the escalation process in the event a traveller fails to Check-In.

“By doing away with the pens and paper of a manual call out system, we have simplified our safety management procedure in a timely and cost-effective manner. Having confidence in the safety of our staff and how we assess that is invaluable. Once staff fell into the rhythm of logging and checking in, there was no resistance to the usage of the new technology.”

Return on Investment