The Fulcrum Focus

So, you’ve made the decision to stop using paper forms and modernize your firm’s field safety inspection management processes, and you need to pick out a software platform. But how do you know which one is best for your company’s needs? ‍

onstruction work is hard. Between long, irregular hours, job insecurity, challenging work environments with extremes in temperature and exposure to the elements, wear and tear on the body, and the threat of injuries, it’s no wonder that construction workers are more at risk of burnout than any other field.

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In its 2021 Global Construction Survey, global auditing firm KPMG reports that nearly 60% of construction and engineering companies interviewed agree that visibility into (and integration of) risks associated with enterprises, portfolios and projects is important for capital project success. Let’s unpack that.

So, we’ve discussed the problem of construction rework, and the devastating effect it can have on your deadlines and your profits. We’ve also shared how digital quality inspections can help open lines of communication, empower employees to follow the latest processes for quality assurance, and deliver location-based insights to keep supervisors in the know about conditions on-site. But even if you’ve followed all the advice and done everything you can to avoid rework, sometimes it can’t be avoided. Then what?

Although the use of lead in public water systems was banned in 1986 by the EPA, an estimated 15 to 22 million Americans’ drinking water supply still comes from lead service lines. Now, after 35 years of waffling, grandfathering, and stopgap measures, it looks as though a comprehensive lead pipe abatement initiative is imminent. The recently announced Biden-Harris Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan seeks to finally replace lead pipes throughout the country by utilizing funds from the bipartisan infrastructure package as well as the EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.

OSHA makes your company do safety inspections. So do your insurers, your investors, your unions, your contractors, your state and local agencies. At times it may seem like a line of people is at your front door with pen and clipboard in one hand and a flashlight in the other, looking to nitpick and find fault. We invite you to move away from the mindset of the inspection as an annoyance, a deterrent, and a punishment. Instead look at it as a valuable tool with benefits far beyond those of keeping all the clipboard-wielders appeased.

Like most governmental agencies, OSHA is not immune to political will, and the numbers of inspectors can vary wildly from administration to administration.  In 1980, for example, there were 3,063 workplaces for each OSHA inspector; in 2020, there were 9,286.  Further demonstrating OSHA’s diminishment: in 2010, there were the same number of OSHA inspectors (1,106) as there was 30 years earlier, but by January 2019, there were only 875 inspectors, despite the incredible growth in the American workforce.

Few words make a construction contractor’s heart sink faster than “rework” – redoing or correcting work that was not done correctly the first time. Construction work is all about margins – margins for time, employees, and profit – and these margins are notoriously thin. When something must be redone, or worse, dismantled and then redone, all of these margins quickly evaporate resulting in missed deadlines, cost overruns, and projects failing.

Physical work can be hard, dirty, and dangerous – and sometimes even deadly. With about 5,000 worker deaths per year, it’s not hard to see why workplaces are so highly regulated, and why safety is such a priority. And the tool that’s at the forefront of keeping workers safe, and companies from running afoul with OSHA, is the safety inspection.

Having problems finding skilled construction workers? You’re not alone. The labor shortage has hit the construction industry particularly hard: home builder contractors estimate that nearly three-quarters of a million construction workers will be needed each year to keep up with demand and account for attrition, while 92% of commercial construction contractors report moderate to high levels of difficulty finding skilled workers.

Project safety and bottom line growth

Construction contractors are developing a new way of thinking when it comes to their safety programs. Construction safety inspections and field inspection management are no longer “a necessary evil” but are an integral part of doing good business. They have an effect on the bottom line that extends beyond simply improving insurance premiums.

You can achieve a robust safety program – and the benefits that come with it – by promoting an overall safety-driven culture through your people.  In a biannual survey of contractors, the SmartMarket Report Safety Management in the Construction Industry 2021 from the Dodge Construction Network, in partnership with CPWR and Newmetrix, make this very clear when it states that “[c]ontractors of all sizes consistently regard safety efforts as people-driven rather than program-driven.”

The recent Dodge Report on Safety Management in the Construction Industry emphasizes training’s role in safety management. This emphasis is supported by evidence showing contractors’ dedication to worker safety training. Yet, the report identifies a concerning trend: the frequency of training significantly varies between companies and jobs.

Can you get good inspection data from old inspection collection methods? Probably not. The problems with using a paper-based system instead of digitized inspections to collect safety data are many and far-reaching. Companies that rely on paper checklists to demonstrate OSHA compliance risk running into regulatory trouble.

Regardless of industry, OSHA compliance is an ongoing challenge for any company. While agreeing that regulations are necessary to ensure worker safety, people can still note that complying with them can be an incredible burden as companies’ responsibilities include:

Better safety programs through digital inspection data

The recent release of the widely-circulated annual SmartMarket Report Safety Management in the Construction Industry 2021 from the Dodge Construction Network, in partnership with CPWR and Newmetrix, re-confirms one of their long-standing findings: contractors consistently report that safety programs have a wide range of positive impacts on their business as a whole.

OSHA needs proof that companies are doing the right things for employees in terms of health and safety. But how is your company supposed to determine what is right? Being OSHA compliant can be a challenge. Companies not only have to provide policies, training and checklists that comply with OSHA requirements, but also bear the burden of determining what it means to be compliant. While OSHA provides extensive guidelines, following them is not always straightforward.

The timely and hazardous nature of utility fieldwork demands consistent workflows that promote security and rigor. Look no further than tower inspections, where standardized SOPs ensure that different field teams carry out their tasks in the same way each time to get the job done effectively, efficiently, and safely.

File attachments in Fulcrum

Great news! Today we’re announcing a new file attachment feature that will save inspectors, data collectors, and administrators a ton of work when they need to manage document-based information. Documents are now just another data type: You can add them to any section of your Fulcrum app.

AI-powered aerial data platform Sitemark now uses Fulcrum to make it easier and more effective than ever for companies to collect field data, clearly visualize solar installation site anomalies, and take action to fix them – all on a mobile device.

Any company can pay lip service to safety, but the ones that actually prioritize it are rewarded with stellar safety records, great reputations and low experience modification rates (EMR). So how do you make the jump from lip service to a robust safety program that can reduce workplace injuries?

Every year, thousands of workers are injured or killed by electrical hazards, a situation made more tragic because many of these incidents are preventable.

UPDATE: Since this announcement was originally posted, Fulcrum remains SOC 2 compliant.

Spreadsheets excel in tasks like accounting and data analysis, offering versatility and ease of use in organizing and processing information. However, when it comes to collecting field data, particularly for integration with GIS platforms, their limitations become apparent. Fieldwork demands real-time data collection, often in diverse environments with varying connectivity and conditions. Spreadsheets lack the necessary functionalities for efficiently capturing and managing this data on the go. Furthermore, the manual input required for spreadsheet-based data entry increases the risk of errors, compromising data reliability.

Each day, teams on the ground play a crucial role in performing essential operations like inspections, installations, and ensuring compliance. These operations, while seemingly straightforward, create an abundance of location data that often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves.

esThe work your field technicians do at the front lines is core to your organization, and leveraging the information they collect in the process can help your company make better decisions at every level. That makes your field teams the perfect catalyst to drive your utility’s digital transformation.

h President Biden’s infrastructure bill, also known as the American Jobs Plan (AJP), aims to create millions of jobs and modernize the country’s crumbling infrastructure. The federal government touts this bill as the biggest public investment since the 1960s. It aims to kickstart the economy post-pandemic, akin to the era of interstate highways and the Space Race. Utility and telecom companies show keen interest in the $400 billion allocated for infrastructure in the $2 trillion plan.

OSHA’s latest findings for 2020 underscore fall protection as the top cited violation, marking a decade-long trend. This highlights the pressing need for enhanced measures to prevent falls in the construction sector. The consistent recurrence of fall protection violations signals a systemic challenge that requires urgent attention and proactive solutions.

In 2019, a staggering 2.8 million people suffered a workplace injury, and 5,333 workers died on the job, an average of 15 deaths every day. Outside the very real human cost of suffering, companies pay out millions each year in fines, legal fees and increased insurance premiums.

Fulcrum enables organizations to eliminate many cumbersome, inefficient paper processes from their workflows to increase the productivity, safety, and quality of their field operations. But some mobile users — especially those with particularly complex and dangerous jobs — have still needed to carry paper safety booklets and bulky SOPs for reference on project sites. Until today’s launch of Fulcrum’s attached document feature.

With the integration announced earlier this year, customers of Fulcrum and Esri™ can now get more value out of their investments in both platforms. By sending high-quality, real-time Fulcrum data into Esri, organizations can get a clearer picture of what’s happening on the ground, analyze their situation more effectively, and make better, more data-driven decisions.

In a recent study conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), 95% of executives across several industries in the United States, UK, Singapore and India said that mapping and GIS location intelligence are important to achieving desired business results.

Two great features that aid image processing have recently been added to the Fulcrum no-code application platform: Adding multiple photos from the gallery and renaming photos on download.

With the mobile revolution, more and more users in field roles are discovering the power of location-based data. Whether it is used to trigger a workflow or process, or simply help visualize information on a map, users — particularly those who work in the field — are increasingly demanding location-aware apps to make their jobs easier and more efficient.

Recent snowstorms managed to cripple the second largest state in the continental United States. Overnight, millions were left without essential services due to aging infrastructure and unprepared electrical grid’s vulnerability to severe storms. Unfortunately, with extreme weather conditions becoming increasingly common around the world, being proactive about how to respond to such disasters in the future could save time, money, resources, and most importantly, lives.

Blurring faces in photos might sound simple, but it tackles a complex challenge: balancing data collection with privacy protection. Fulcrum’s AI-powered face blurring automates this process, addressing privacy concerns without slowing teams down.

From the beginning of 2020 to the beginning of 2021, the way that many organizations do business changed dramatically, seemingly overnight. Remote work became the norm as offices went dark, and people learned that many tasks could be completed with little (or no) face-to-face interaction. The cloud technology that has enabled this transformation has made many things possible that previous generations couldn’t have dreamed of — not just for traditional office workers, but for the mobile teams who don’t do their jobs behind a desk and who still report to job sites every day. It facilitates a seamless transfer of data, without the need to be in the same location, reducing costs while increasing safety and productivity.

Today marks the first phase of a new, easier way to integrate Fulcrum and Esri™. Joint customers can now get more value from their existing Esri investments by extending their location intelligence capabilities beyond the specialized geographic information systems (GIS) user.

The Coronavirus pandemic caught almost everyone off guard in 2020. Some organizations swiftly embraced new technology, enabling their workforce to transition smoothly to working from home. However, others found it challenging to adjust to this new reality and maintain a healthy cash flow.

The construction industry faces a tight labor market and a shortage of skilled workers. This situation often forces companies to fill roles with workers who do not meet the ideal employee profile. They do this out of desperation to complete projects on time and within budget.

A manager is only as effective as the team they’ve built, and ensuring they have the right tools to get the job done is part of being successful. That’s even more critical when those teams are out in the field and responsible for day-to-day tasks without a manager being physically present. If your team members are working solo, outdoors, or in geographically diverse environments, managing effectively becomes exponentially more challenging.

Everything about 2020 was strange. The way we worked, shopped, socialized, and learned was upended seemingly overnight. Most of us have since adapted (out of necessity). Tools like Zoom and Google have helped us work and learn from home. However, a significant group of workers faced unique challenges. They were vital for maintaining operations but couldn’t work from home. These workers had to adapt to new ways of working and find tools to perform their tasks effectively.

Amid the election and pandemic, it seems every American has likely deepened their knowledge of U.S. geography. We’ve spent a substantial part of the year analyzing data. This data has pinpointed where the virus hits hardest, identified states reporting their election outcomes, and now, tracks the deployment of the coronavirus vaccine.

It’s the end of the fourth quarter, which means business leaders everywhere are planning their goals for the new year.

Organizations that continually increase efficiency, safety, and customer satisfaction all have this in common: They embrace Field process improvement.

Construction is one of the most heavily regulated industries because of its inherent risks. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), one of every 5 workplace fatalities occurs on construction developments. Because they’re often working at height or with heavy machinery, construction workers must be diligent about following strict safety protocols to avoid injuring themselves, their co-workers, or passersby. The best way to ensure those protocols are followed? Use a construction checklist.‍

Businesses are embracing no-code development for its many benefits: It costs less than traditional software development, it increases their agility and productivity, and it takes strain off of their IT departments by enabling non-developers to create and quickly modify custom apps.

Few things are more frustrating than being held up by technical problems. The laptop freezes. The vending machine breaks. The car doesn’t start. Knowing that your immediate future is now dependent on someone else — the IT guy, the repair tech, the auto mechanic — is such a helpless feeling. Like being stuck in limbo. The good news is that technical problems are not inevitable. In fact, many are fairly easily avoided. Because almost every technical problem is really, at its core, a human one.

When was the last time you went grocery shopping without a checklist? How soon after did you have to go back for something you forgot? Checklists play an important role in our lives, not just by reminding us to buy milk. Health and safety checklists, for example, can prevent accidents, illnesses, and injuries.

When you call 911, what’s the first question they ask you? What is your location?‍ Knowing where you are — and being able to share that information quickly — is crucial to getting the help you need in a timely manner.  Location matters. Not just in emergency situations, but in nearly all aspects of our personal and professional lives, from the most mundane decisions (which route should I take to work?) to the most pivotal (where should I buy a house?).