Read how one factory used WOVO to improve fire safety and reduce accidents by 80% by increasing worker knowledge, awareness and safety reports.
Read in 中文
The Challenge
Management at Factory A, a footwear factory in China, noticed a spike in fire accidents. Fire safety was a key priority for the management team, but it was clear most of the accidents were avoidable.
While policies, protocols and hardware play an important role, whether fire safety management succeeds largely depends on employees’ understanding and execution of protocols. So management considered organizing additional trainings to reinforce fire safety rules and procedures, but due to COVID and social distancing requirements, management was unable to bring workers together for a training.
They decided to change their approach and use WOVO to easily collect worker feedback and safety reports and distribute additional trainings.
How WOVO Helped
Understanding the Problem
First, factory management needed to better understand the challenge. They ran a factory-wide survey to test worker knowledge of critical fire safety protocols and assessing workers’ perception regarding these protocols. They received surprising results:
Almost half of employees failed the safety quiz, despite attending regular fire safety trainings. For example, many responded they would flee from a fire rather than use nearby fire extinguishers to put out a fire.
Workers also reported they often put production targets ahead of fire safety, stating they would choose to ignore fire safety risks such as placing flammable objects near open flames if they were overwhelmed with productions.
Workers also said they found reporting safety concerns laborious and time-consuming. The initial protocol required workers to go to the HSE office to file reports or speak to their supervisors and often never received a response.
Based on the survey results, factory management worked with HSE officers and worker representatives to brainstorm a few ideas.
Implementing new e-learnings
The traditional fire safety learning materials were deemed ineffective at achieving long-lasting learning outcomes. So, factory management decided to launch a fire safety eLearning lesson via WOVO.
The eLearning covers important to-dos about workplace fire safety and preventative tips about fire safety risks.
The eLearning is led by amusing animated characters who tell stories and have conversations about real workplace scenarios, allowing workers to take interactive quizzes, resulting in better knowledge retention.
The eLearnings are available to download for offline access.
Factory management also set up public computers so workers without smart phones can access the web-based version of eLearning.
Collecting Safety Reports
It was clear going to the HSE office was deterring workers from reporting issues and making it harder for management to follow up. Thus, the group of workers and management decided to use WOVO instead.
Management decided to accept safety reports via WOVO so workers no longer needed to be physically present to report an issue.
Management set up a process to ensure all reports are answered in a timely fashion by the HSE staff.
WOVO allows the HSE staff to quickly collect details because they are able to use the Dashboard to case manage each of the reports. WOVO allows two way communication, so staff are able to ask questions, gather details and report back to workers. They are also able to indicate urgency and monitor the resolution of the cases, using reports to set and measure clear targets for follow up.
Unlimited access to WOVO also means workers are able to continue reporting their concerns after working hours if they were too busy at work.
Factory management also has delegated an HSE Ambassador to every production line to supervise and report any fire safety concerns.
Results After Three Months
After just three months the results of their efforts were clear. Workers were better informed and making more reports, resulting in a safer workplace for everyone.
95% of the workers completed the fire safety e-Learning
60% increase in the number of workers who passed the fire safety quiz.
55% Increase in the number of fire safety reports.
80% decrease in the number of fire safety accidents.