Safety apps can help avoid injuries or save a life. Safety expert Paul Colangelo reports about his 10 picks for construction, general industry and more.
Paul is ClickSafety’s National Director of Compliance Programs. For over a year, he reviewed 150 safety and health applications for iOS, Android and Windows devices. He presented his 10 best at ASSE’s convention Safety 2015.
To narrow down his list, Paul looked at cost, the information provided, and if it would work offline.
Listen for Paul to tell about five of his 10 awesome apps in this podcast. His first five are in the previous podcast, 10 Awesome Workplace Safety Apps – Pt 1.
Scroll down for links to iOS, Android and Windows Phone downloads.
TRANSCRIPT:
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intro music and effects
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Dan Clark: A mobile device can keep you and other workers safe on the jobsite. Coming up next, 10 Awesome Workplace Safety Apps – Pt 2.
Hi, I’m Dan Clark of The Safety Brief, tackling health and safety hazards in today’s demanding industrial and construction worksites, a service of Creative Safety Supply. Go to creativesafetysupply.com for ten percent off. Use coupon code BIG10.
(:30)
Paul Colangelo: When you look at apps, let’s face it, the reliability of the Internet—especially if you’re in the field. If it goes down, can you actually access the app? So, working off-line was a big plus.
Dan: That’s Paul Colangelo, a safety expert who stared down 150 health and safety mobile apps to find the best.
Paul: Does it contain helpful information?
Dan: And good for many industries.
Paul: Construction, general, petro-chem, maritime. Things of that nature.
Dan: Paul is National Director of Compliance Programs at ClickSafety.
We looked at five of his picks in the last podcast, the other five of his top 10 right now. All of these are free.
6. NIOSH Ladder Safety. [iOS English/Spanish] [Android English/Spanish]
(1:10)
Paul: Their ladder app, I’ve got to tell you, I don’t know of a safety professional, personally, any of my colleagues, that don’t have is app.
Dan: This one’s directly from the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health
Paul: Primarily works with extension ladders. And it’s got some very helpful ladder inspection points.
Dan: It calculates ladder angles, and has advice on ladder inspections.
Paul: Very universal in scale, no matter what industry that you happen to be working in. And very helpful tips for doing ladder inspections and checkpoints.
(1:39)
7. FallClear Lite. [Android] This app calculates fall clearances.
Paul: It’s not just enough to have the personal protective equipment, but we fail to determine the proper fall clear distance.
Dan: It’s easy to input distances and has great graphics
Paul: This particular app, for free, in US and metric use, for iOS and Android I think was a big winner.
8. ILO Ergonomic Checkpoints. [iOS] [Android] It shows the right ergonomic postures.
Paul: How are we treating our bodies and our musculoskeletal disorders? And ergonomics is a big part of that.
(2:10)
Dan: It’s for iOS and Android
Paul: Anybody that’s looking to design an ergonomics program for their company, in terms of people that stand or lift or turn their bodies in certain ways, it just is a very user-friendly app.
9. iAuditor. [iOS] [Android] For Safety inspections. It provides custom inspections, reports, and audits.
Paul: Any sort of auditing, this app—as far as I’m concerned—I’ve used it for years. I know so many people in the industry out there that are using it.
Dan: It’s the 2nd most popular app that safety pros use.
(2:41)
Paul: Millions have used this app doing their inspection auditing. I want to say there’s a database, maybe 50,000 or more templates that are available that people have actually shared.
Dan: Two platforms, iOS and Android.
Paul: It won a Tabby Award. There’s actually a website out there. They review apps every year and this particular app had won in two categories.
10. OSHA Heat Safety Tool. [iOS] [Blackberry] [Ed. note: this app is temporarily unavailable for Android. Info here.]
It’s not just any weather app. It gives heat index, combining the temperature and humidity to give the effective temperature and advises what to do.
(3:15)
Paul: I don’t know anybody in my industry that does not have this app on their smart device. OSHA came out with this a few years ago.
Dan: Info comes directly from the National Weather Service, or you can input conditions directly offline.
Paul: It’s available in English and Spanish.
Dan: This one is the most used safety app by safety pros.
Paul: I also love the fact that it’s got a great link to the OSHA website for any regulatory information that you need access.
Dan: That’s a wrap on the 10 apps. Thanks to Paul Colangelo of ClickSafety, which is a learning company with 10 and 30 hour OSHA online courses. And what else?
(3:49)
Paul: Our website also has some very valuable tools as well, in terms of e-learning and m-learning, like our free toolbox talks. Check it out at clicksafety.com
Dan: That’s all for this episode, 10 Awesome Workplace Safety Apps – Pt 2. Come back for more ways to stay safety compliant in today’s ever-changing landscape of safety requirements. I’m Dan Clark of The Safety Brief, a service of Creative Safety Supply. Save 10% off your entire order at creativesafetysupply.com with coupon code BIG10.
(4:21)
END
app icons © ℗ 2015 Google Play; Paul Colangelo image by ClickSafety; smartphone by PixaBay OpenClipartVectors; iphone by PixaBay ClkerFreeVectorImages; buttons by PixaBay GerAlt; welding and foundry images by US Dept Of Energy
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