Digital Inspections ROI

Digitizing inspections come with many benefits such as eliminating paperwork and storage, ensuring compliance, and reducing labour costs. So how much do you really save? To answer this question, we broke workplace inspections and documentation processes into 3 main components: Paperwork and storage Ensuring compliance Labour costs Paperwork and Storage A popular method for inspecting locations/equipment is with pen and paper. Workers sign a paper tag at the location/equipment, then fill out a log sheet which is later submitted to the manager for review/action and eventually ends up in storage. When diving into the numbers, we found that the paperwork costs associated with inspections can really add up. We used data from our existing clients, who include hospitals, storage facilities, factories and commercial properties to determine the costs of paperwork associated with manual inspections. We used 500 locations/equipment with inspections on a monthly basis as a con

Fire Emergency Systems in High-Rise Buildings

When it comes to fire safety, high-rise buildings must be specially equipped to prevent a disaster from occurring.  Without proper fire emergency systems in your high-rise building, a minor incident could rapidly escalate into a major tragedy. To protect your building and ensure the safety of occupants, strict guidelines must be followed by building staff.  Regular inspections are an absolute must to ensure these guidelines are being followed, keeping your building safe.  Here are the most common requirements for fire emergency systems in high-rise buildings:  Elevators are to be controlled by a keyed switch  A designated firefighter’s elevator must be present in the building  Smoke shaft, exhaust system and/or windows must act as means of ventilation from each floor area to outdoors  Sprinklers must be installed throughout the building; see this post for sprinkler valve inspection requirements In the event that any of the fire alarm and sprinkler systems are off-line for

Emergency Power Systems

Emergency power systems, such as generators, must be inspected, tested and maintained in accordance with their manufacturer’s operation and maintenance instruction manual as well as standards and legislation laid out in the “Emergency Electrical Power Supply for Buildings” CAN/CSA C282, 6.7.1 NFC & OFC.  Emergency power systems are expensive assets and are critical to maintaining safe building operation in the event of a power failure. With this in mind, there are several inspection points, tests and data that must be collected and recorded on a regular basis.  Here are some general guidelines for emergency power system inspections and maintenance:  Overall  Equipment must be tested and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s operation and maintenance instruction manual Maintenance work must be logged and kept in accordance with the manufacturer’s operation and maintenance instruction manual; logs must include: date work was completed, record of parts replace

Is Your Fire Watch Program Up To Code?

What is a Fire Watch? In Canada and the US, there are regulations such as the the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and jurisdictional Fire Codes that require buildings equipped with fire alarm systems and sprinkler systems to be fully operational at all times. In the event that any of these systems are off-line for any reason whatsoever, or there is the presence of Hot Works being performed, a Fire Watch inspection program is to be implemented immediately. A Fire Watch inspection program is the regular, physical inspection of the area to ensure a fire does not start. This inspection should be completed once every hour. A Fire Watch inspection program needs to be implemented if there are life safety systems that are offline and/or there is Hot Works being performed.  Hot Works Info    Did you know? [i] Hot Works is defined as any process involving flame, spark or heat production. This includes work such as cutting, welding, soldering, grinding etc. The Fire W

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 is RegTech and how can it help you meet your regulatory/compliance requirements?

Regulatory Technology, commonly referred to as “RegTech” is a new term in many industries but it’s nothing to be intimidated by. RegTech is simply applying technology solutions/tools to regulatory and compliance processes/tasks such as audits, risk management, inspections, reporting requirements etc. RegTech aims to: Manage regulatory and compliance requirements  Create efficiencies & improve productivity Automate and simplify processes as current regulatory/compliance processes tend to be extremely manual Digitize regulatory/compliance information Integrate systems Establish cost effective solutions Increase collaboration and information sharing Proactively identify risks in advance Remediate existing regulatory/compliance issues or gaps Benefits of RegTech solutions: Automated processes – cost savings, efficiencies and reduced risk Digital datasets – information is securely stored and always accessible Information sharing – when processes are m