...environmental director for Austin Industries. “It’s a wonderful tool to capture a lot of information and immediately have it available for future use.”

Using SafetyNet Superintendents, project managers, project executives and safety officers enter safety observations using a Blackberry or other handheld device. At some jobs, Turner staff may enter it on a preprinted card and then someone else enters it from a desktop computer.

“It doesn’t take long to do an inspection,” Gilbane’s Fisher says. “When we run across a life-threatening situation, we make the correction, pull him out. When we synchronize that, it goes out by email to the owner of that company and all of our management. All of a sudden everyone knows there was a problem.”

Companies compare SafetyNet data, displayed on an electronic dashboard, with monthly safety reports and claims and incident data. The information starts at the project level and works up to a national overview.

“A trend will develop based on what they see in the field,” Turner’s DePrater says. “That leads them to a better focus on what they should be observing on the job.”

For instance, if in a certain geographic territory or on a specific job site, safety officials notice ladder-related issues, the company will increase attention to fall protection, housekeeping and material handling.

“Instead of just looking at hard hats and glasses, they can focus in on what they need to be observing,” DePrater says.

Austin Industries’ Frey adds that DBO2 aggregates all users’ observations, creating the ability to compare a company’s results with the industry standard.

“It gives you an immediate way to benchmark,” Frey says.

Involving subcontractors SafetyNet allows users to break out the data by subcontractor.

“One of the advantages is we can track contractors’ performance, not only on the individual job but also across jobs,” Fisher says. “We can spot trending on safe and unsafe behaviors.”

Contractors can quickly pick up on a subcontractor not following safety procedures and have a discussion. At Turner, purchasing and preconstruction managers have access to the data and can take that information into consideration before bringing a subcontractor on board for a new project.

Gilbane documented one subcontractor’s safety issues on SafetyNet and brought the owner of the company in for a meeting, Fisher says.

“It was eye-opening to him,” Fisher adds. “He jumped in and changed the way they did things,”

Gilbane and Turner often use the same subcontractor in different parts of the country and can pick up trends about their safety practices.

“After a period of time, they will develop a history in this technology, and as we share that with them, it shows them where they need to improve,” DePrater says. “The more we share that, the better they will get.”