Robert Hudman, sales engineer with Procore, recently spoke to Inside Construction and gave an interesting perspective on construction software and the role it plays in terms of safety.
“As a Sales Engineer I support the sales process and provide some context for companies considering Procore and talk about how I used it in my previous roles,” Hudman said.
“I assimilate what they do on a daily basis and show them how it can be done in a more efficient and effective manner.
Fundamentally, our software is very easy for people to use. For most traditional software there is a learning process just to understand what it does.
“We work on the basis that if you can use an iPhone you can use Procore.”
In construction we often refer to the ‘Iron Triangle’, which are time, cost and quality. Quality goes hand-in-hand with safety and sometimes there is a trade off between them. Obviously, construction companies approach this process differently, but it is important to act on what they need to do quickly.
“With our software, the user experience is very straight forward and instead of filling in paperwork they can report an safety item immediately they via their phone or mobile device,” Hudman added.
“In terms of safety the ‘what’ question is easy. It’s the ‘why’ that’s important. Procore analyses the ‘why’ part of an incident, which provides information on what types of issues contribute to hazards and what types of situations have risks, near misses or potential injuries.
“The user then has the ability to see what they are doing well and where they are having troubles and adjust processes and training accordingly.”
In years gone by, the uptake of technology by the construction sector has been fairly low. Analysis has revealed that this has been partially based on the fact that companies have built a product and tried to sell as opposed to asking the industry what is wants and building it. Procore has taken the latter approach.
“Today, we are seeing a huge up take of technology,” Hudman continued.
“I think the Australian and New Zealand construction sectors can put their hands up as leaders in construction safety and also quality.
“As far as safety goes, we are seeing an internationalisation of safety standards. ISO 45001 is about to be implemented legally and I think this is a step towards seeing the construction sector adopting regional sets of safety standards.
“We’re really excited about that sort of process in construction, it’s going to make our products even more useable for more people.”
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