Arguably, the easiest way to report incidents is with some technological solutions. The various software and platforms are designed to make incident reporting as simple and straightforward as possible, but there are aspects to monitor when selecting and implementing incident reporting software.
Technology Does Not Always Equal to Simplicity
In general, incident reporting software is designed to make manual processes easier, but this is not always true. You may not have to enter everything from the employee and department name to it, but the number of clicks and the reporting journey can still be long and tedious.
So the first important thing is to compare your current process with the technological process and come to the conclusion that it is really easier? See simplicity on both sides – who is reporting and who is processing the data.
Employees Should be Involved to the Choice of Incident Reporting Platforms
If you want employees to start using the incident reporting platform, involve them right from the start when the platform is being selected. You often hear how companies choose new tools and at one point employees are informed that now we are going to use it and please use it.
However, involving employees in the decision-making process helps you see concerns that you do not notice. The process may be easy for decision-makers, but for the actual users, who are not technology savvy could be too difficult and therefore tend to stay away from it.
My suggestion would be to involve a small group of employees who go through the process and comment on whether the process is simple or complex.
Compatibility with Your Planned System
By this I mean your system in general – who is involved, how reporting will managed, are there tablets, computers in the work environment or are mobile phones used for reporting?
These parameters also need to be considered when you start adopting new technology. Of course, you can also change your current system if you find a particularly good solution, and sometimes it is wiser to change it if it makes the situation easier.
However, if employees are not used to using digital solutions and are not very friends with smartphones, it is not worth using a solution where the employee should report any incidents via smartphone. Some will probably learn, but for some it will cause additional stress and defiance.
Choosing a new accident and incident reporting software is always quite a complicated and time consuming process, but it will be easier if you find out what your capabilities are in terms of HR and hardware resources and how the system should work in theory.
The right technology is available for each approach.
