As we navigate through these challenging times, there are a lot of things that we can do to help each other. I’m sure you’ve heard of stories of people going out of their way to help others faced with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At Enablon, we’re supporting our customers with new features, templates and configuration packages free of charge to help them manage COVID-19 risks and impacts.
We also believe in sharing knowledge that may give you some ideas that can make a difference.
I recently spoke with David Rocha, Senior Product Manager for Health and Safety solutions at Enablon.
I asked David about incident management systems in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what he had to say.
From an incident/event management perspective, what is the most important thing right now for organizations and their response to the COVID-19 crisis?
David: Organizations need to have clear visibility on the number of cases and suspected cases, and the location of people with cases. They must ensure the right people are informed, and maintain a single source of truth. But at the same time, companies must also continue to ensure that data privacy requirements continue to be met, for example those associated to the EU’s GDPR regulation.
Incident management systems are designed for keeping track of cases, so it’s something that many organizations are rightly using right now. This clear visibility is essential to enable companies to take the right actions in preventing further contagion and keeping essential businesses operating.
What type of assistance can we provide today to the Enablon community for incident/event management in the context of a COVID-19 response?
David: In order to support our customers, we have created an additional configuration to specifically capture and track COVID-19 related events and cases. It provides a unique workflow and fields specifically for tracking the evolution of the virus within a company’s global workforce. This solution supports the requirements created by a need to respond to the pandemic, while preserving occupational injury and illness reporting in line with regulatory reporting requirements.
In addition, our customers can monitor and track the geographical distribution of confirmed and suspected cases, trends of COVID-19 cases, and sites with the most confirmed cases, all through an intuitive dashboard viewed on a single screen. Clients can also track action plans deployed to respond to the pandemic, and leverage mobile devices used by their employees to focus on infection-prevention measures.
You mentioned something in your previous answer that’s interesting. You said that COVID-19 cases captured in Enablon’s Incident Management Software system have a unique workflow, compared to other events. Can you elaborate?
David: Today in Enablon, there are already different workflows to provide smart guidance for users when they enter an event. For example, an accident is treated differently that a near miss; a slip, trip and fall is treated differently than an exposure to dangerous chemicals or a non-compliance with a regulation.
So it makes perfect sense to treat COVID-19 cases differently and provide a specific workflow. One of the main highlights of the COVID-19 cases workflow is the ability to notify your crisis response team the moment a case is entered in the system, thus eliminating any potential delays in ensuring that the team has all the necessary information to coordinate a response.
In what ways do you think the COVID-19 crisis may change how organizations do incident/event management in the future? What do you think will be the future impacts on processes, etc.?
David: In terms of incident reporting, we’re reminded again of the need for easy, quick solutions that are accessible anywhere. Having systems that can be configured simply, and reports setup quickly is a capacity that many organizations will realize they don’t have today when they should.
Organizations are also having a greater appreciation of the business impacts of non-occupational health issues, which is leading them to improve health monitoring and reporting of non-occupational conditions to better support their workforce.
Most health & safety systems are set-up to focus on occupational issues. There is a clear demarcation line between work-related and non-work-related issues. But when faced with a pandemic, that line becomes blurred and almost irrelevant. A virus does not recognize organizational boundaries. An infection can come from anywhere, from a work colleague or a total stranger on the bus, without the ability to know 100% where it occurred. This is why organizations will increasingly look at the wellness of their workforce in a more holistic manner.
And finally, how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted you personally?
David: Like many others, I have close relatives and friends with conditions that place them in the at-risk category, so I worry about their health. I am also concerned by the longer-term economic effects, particularly to those in precarious work. These two concerns are at the forefront of my mind, but I’ve been encouraged by the many acts of solidarity we’re seeing on a daily basis, and people adapting and supporting each other. We’ve been lucky to experience that here at Enablon, both internally within teams and with customers coming together to share best practices.
That’s our Q&A with David Rocha. I’m glad we shared his insights and knowledge with you. Hopefully you learned something new that can lead to a positive change in your company.
Check out also our post on how some members of our community are responding to the COVID-19 crisis. In addition, Taylor Allis, our VP of Product and Marketing, shared his thoughts on what all of this means for corporate risk strategies.
