How Toronto-based Tap Report is transforming workplace inspections

Eric Emin Wood   @ericewood Published: April 6th, 2018 Tap Report co-founder and CEO Paul Amendola had been managing fire and life safety inspections in Toronto’s financial district for six years when he started looking for digital solutions that would help him navigate the multiple inspection reports, maintenance orders, and asset approvals that kept coming across his desk – and found little. The closest he remembers finding was a few barcode-based systems that were “very difficult to use – and very expensive.” Tap Report co-founder and CEO Paul Amendola knew firsthand the frustration felt by workplace inspection teams – and wanted to help them. “It was very difficult to stay on top of everything,” he says. “Staff would sign off on what they thought was the kitchen in the north east corner, but unfortunately it would turn out to be the south east corner, which we wouldn’t find out until the tenant started complaining – and that happened a lot. People were making

Is Your Fire Watch Program Up To Code?

What is a Fire Watch? The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) requires that buildings equipped with fire alarm systems and sprinkler systems be fully operational at all times. In the event that any of these systems are off-line for any reason whatsoever, a Fire Watch inspection program through the use of Fire Watch personnel is to be implemented immediately. A Fire Watch inspection program is the regular physical inspection of the area the Hot Work is being performed to ensure a fire does not start. Did you know? [i] Hot work is defined as any process involving flame, spark or heat production. This includes work such as cutting, welding, soldering, grinding etc. The Fire Watch work area must be inspected at least once each hour  The Fire Watch personnel must be equipped with a fire extinguisher and PPE The Fire Watch must be conducted from the start of the hot work until at least 3 hours after the work has been completed Who completes the Fire Watch? A

Custodian Managment Case Study

Provide a description of yourself and your company.  Jamie Swartz, Custodian Lead at  Gordon Food Service. Gordon Food Service is a foodservice distributor with large facilities across Canada and the United States.  What do you use Tap Report for?  We use Tap Report for fire extinguisher inspections, sanitation inspections, refrigeration inspections, and heath and safety inspections at our facilities.  How has Tap Report helped you maintain your facilities?  Tap Report has helped us by making sure the required inspections are completed, reducing our risks and ensuring compliance.   As a manager, what do you find most valuable about Tap Report?  Making sure the inspections are completed on time is the most valuable aspect of Tap Report in my opinion. It ensures compliance, mitigating our risks.   What do you think has improved the most with using Tap Report?  Accountability for inspections being completed has improved greatly through the use of Tap Report at our facilities.

Are Drones the Future of Building Inspections?

Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) that can fly in the air. They’ve been an extremely popular tech gadget for consumer use but slowly, industry uses are being applied. It may seem like drones are a new phenomenon but the technology actually dates back to WWI military use.  A Business Insider article outlines how drones have changed over time through seven progressive generations that range in capabilities. First generation is characterized by basic remote control capabilities. Second generation includes manual piloting and audio-visual capabilities such as camera and video recording. Generations 3-5 progressively have better audio-visual capabilities like 360 degree visuals and safety features including autopilot. Generations 6-7 have enhanced safety features which allow drones to be more suitable for commercial use. These safety features include various piloting modes, accurate sensors, airspace and autonomy awareness and auto-action allowing for self-takeoff, landing

Operations Management Case Study

We sat down with  Linda Ahara the Regional Director of Operations for Crothall Services (Compass Group)  to understand how Tap Report has improved inspections in a hospital setting. Provide a description of yourself and your company.   We are using Tap Report at a 300 bed Acute care hospital on Vancouver Island.  What do you use Tap Report for?   We use Tap Report for daily monitoring of isolation and regular patient/washroom cleaning.  How has Tap Report helped you maintain your facilities? Tap Report has helped us to shift to a paperless system to supply reports and monitor workload.  As a manager, what do you find most valuable about Tap Report?  I find the alerts for cleaning and reporting to client scheduling compliance the most valuable resource.  What do your staff like most about using Tap Report?   I like that Tap Report is easy to use and requires minimal training.  What do you think has improved the most with using Tap Report?  Our staff compliance an

What is ProTech?

PropTech is a newer term used to describe technology solutions geared towards disrupting the real estate sector. Other terms used to describe this type of technology solutions include CRE Tech, RealTech and ConTech.  PropTech is very broad as it includes real estate, leasing, appraisals, residential property management, commercial property management, the sharing economy, smart cities/buildings, construction, RegTech and even FinTech.  Within PropTech, companies are using innovative technology to change/enhance the existing ways of doing things and to address problems or gaps within the industry. These technology solutions are leveraging things like:  Big data & analytics Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robotic automation Digital capabilities Internet of Things (IoT) Virtual Reality (VR) Payment/transaction/lending technology Blockchain technology  Some of the main areas that PropTech focuses on are:  Building/asset performance, optimization and cost reduction Te

Top 8 Benefits of Digital Inspections

Future of Inspections

Inspections have changed over time and they continue to change with advances in technology. There are a lot of trends and buzzwords being used right now that have the potential to impact how inspections are performed in the future. We’ve all heard of these buzzwords but understanding what they mean at a basic level may be a bit challenging, so we’re going to walk you through the latest trends, discuss their strengths and make you aware of their pitfalls and things to consider.  Trends include: Internet of Things (IoT) Analytics and Big Data Drones Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Internet of Things (IoT) IoT is a giant network of things/devices that are connected to the internet. [1]  These devices collect and exchange data using sensors, making them into “live objects” where the data can provide an understanding of what’s going on with the device. The data collected can be shown on a dashboard to deepen this understanding and can be used for a v

What Do You Get Out Of Inspections?

Sometimes it’s difficult getting buy-in to complete inspections. They are time consuming and one could argue that the majority of the time, nothing bad happens. But there’s actually a lot in it for you and your organization in terms of inspections. Inspections provide a lot of benefits including: Documented due diligence Compliance to legislation, codes, by-laws etc. Avoidance of fines Defense against liability in the event an incident/accident occurs Management of reputational risk and avoidance of negative media coverage A safer workplace – less injuries and fatalities Less accidents = better insurance premiums Reduced loss time or work delays due to injury Reduced costs associated with loss time or work delays due to equipment malfunction/breakdown Asset protection Proactive fixes before they become a huge problem – and a burden on the pocket book Improved equipment reliability and optimization Increased equipment and system efficiency Peace of mind that everythi

How to Inspect?

There are different ways of satisfying inspection requirements and they have evolved over time. Inspection methods include: Pen and Paper Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Near-Field Communication (NFC) The most basic form of inspection uses pen and paper; it’s also the most widely used method at the moment. Personnel go to each location with their paper form or check list and mark down that they have inspected the equipment and note any deficiencies. A manager collects all records of the inspection to review and verify that all areas have been inspected and notify the appropriate personnel of any deficiencies found through email or a work order system. This method of inspection can leave room for human error and requires storage/indexing. It is also time consuming to review all paperwork and manually send out deficiencies to the appropriate parties.  Over time, technology has evolved to help automate the inspection process. In the 1990s, a cylinder-shaped tool that