By eMOD Staff
Recently, eMOD cofounder Kaitlin Frank joined the Elevate Construction podcast with host Jason Schroeder. In the 33-minute discussion, the two talked about some of the most important safety issues in construction today, how today’s builders view technology, and the ins and outs of the eMOD app.
Jason, a well-respected construction operations and training consultant, was gushing in his praise of the eMOD app — and of course, we were happy to hear that! — in large part because he doesn’t think workers take safety seriously enough.
“The way I see eMOD is that it takes these (safety) processes which are needed,” he said, “which workers now don’t take seriously, and it puts them into a platform that is as addictive as Facebook, as useful as YouTube, and as quick to use as Wikipedia.”
You can listen to the full podcast here:
Here are just a few of the takeaways:
We forget safety isn’t about paperwork. It’s about people
One of the problems with paper-borne safety processes — and one reason why we started the eMOD app — is that people get sucked into the administrative effort it takes to simply complete it. And we forget that there’s a reason for the safety process to begin with: helping keep people safe.
Kaitlin explained that in her role as superintendent for Dome Construction, she would often spend her mornings “chasing people around for what felt like an administrative task, to check a box,” she said. “These were just pencil-whipped documents and no one actually understood what they were filling out. Or why they’re filling it out. It was just how quickly can I fill this out, get past it, and just get to work.”
Turning ‘waste’ into proactive safety processes
Following Kaitlin’s point about the administrative problem with paper processes, Jason added that safety processes are sometimes a waste of effort — unless there is some kind of follow through on it.
“I hate waste,” he said. “Checklists, plans, what a waste of time — unless we actually do it right and they get audited.”
He points out that in eMOD, once a digital pre-task plan or safety audit is completed, it is reviewed and can be changed/updated if there are areas that need to be addressed.
“When (the digital forms) get filled out and immediately everyone has access before they start the work — or before they change the work,” he said, “not only is that going to prevent the waste, … but there are checks in there to see how we’re doing so that we can keep that train going.
“Why do something if it’s not going to be real?”
Are construction workers tech-averse?
There’s a perception that the construction industry lags when it comes to certain types of technology — which may be true to a degree. But really, our industry is a microcosm of our society as a whole — we have a diverse group of workers with varying levels of tech sophistication.
And, when it comes to applications, the vast majority of workers and management alike have smartphones and use a variety of apps. And increasingly, they are using purpose-built apps for construction (including eMOD), on iPads that live on job sites or on their personal phones. The key to the adoption of these apps isn’t necessarily more training — it’s delivering an experience that’s intuitive. Intuitive like the popular consumer applications that anyone can learn to use in a few moments.
“When I looked at (the eMOD interface), it’s right there,” Jason said. “It’s intuitive, just like you would pick it up if it was on an actual piece of paper. I thought it was pretty fantastic.”
To make sure eMOD is intuitive, we’ve had a very iterative design process in which we have gathered feedback from a variety of field and office workers at every step.
“We’ve tested it with laborers, with carpenters,” Kaitlin said. “We went out to the field to actually say, ‘Where would you click next?’ We wanted to make sure that it was field-friendly. … [eMOD} was built for the field, by the field. We didn’t want to be like that tech company that doesn’t know anything about its users.”
Adapt or fail: Safety factors are always changing
When Jason asked Kaitlin where she expected to be in five years, it reminded us of just how much has changed from one year ago today. The global pandemic as we know it hadn’t taken hold in the U.S. just yet. It hadn’t yet disrupted jobs, caused construction safety executives to rush to create COVID action plans, and increased the safety precautions we’d take for virtually everything we do in the name of keeping our people safe. (Including adding a COVID-19 module within eMOD that helps streamline the job-site check-in process and provides contact tracing.)
It’s a reminder of how important it is to be ready to adapt. “I see myself and eMOD really growing and adapting as construction does change,” Kaitlin said. “You know, as soon as we think we know something, that’s when we’re in trouble. We’re going to continue to have to adapt.”
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About eMOD
Founded in 2018, eMOD is a team of experienced commercial construction superintendents, project managers, and safety officers from San Francisco-based Dome Construction. Safety is more than our passion; we’ve built a company and a product dedicated to making our industry safer. The eMOD Safety App is designed for the next generation of construction owners, insurance companies, general contractors, subcontractors, and tradespeople.
We not only built the app, we use it every day. Contact us to set up a demo today.