AV Dawson is a comprehensive logistics provider based in the UK, specialising in services such as rail freight, road transport, warehousing, and port services. AV Dawson tailors its multimodal logistics solutions to meet the specific needs of industries across the UK, offering transportation and storage options that leverage its extensive infrastructure and expertise. Headquartered in Teesside, the company has around 170 employees, split between operational areas and office staff, which enables a balanced approach to hands-on logistics and strategic management.
Ensuring the safety of staff members is paramount to daily operations at AV Dawson. To achieve this; safety notifications, updates to risk assessments, and procedural changes play a crucial role. HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) teams are responsible for ensuring all staff understand this vital information, which is confirmed through a sign-off process. For office staff, this process is automated through their AV Dawson accounts, facilitating efficient compliance. However, for operatives without company accounts, this process must be carried out manually.
Keyzo is currently used to simplify the staff onboarding process, where employees receive an introductory video detailing site rules and are tested to confirm their understanding. The system also securely stories employee information. However, for updates to policy, AV Dawson primarily uses printouts to capture signatures and confirm competency of operatives. In some cases, the contents will be explained to operational staff by their managers, at toolbox talk meetings.
Currently, the ability to filter and track who has or hasn’t signed-off on information is limited as data is not captured digitally or tied back to a unique employee identifier.
AV Dawson requires a streamlined digital solution for confirming that operatives have read and understood important safety, HR, Quality and business information, eliminating paper and enhancing traceability for the HSE, HR, Quality and Media teams. This solution will be implemented on tablets across operational areas, allowing staff to confirm understanding of safety updates, risk assessments, and procedures.
It must ensure individual traceability for each employee, providing a simple, surface-level authentication without the need for an AV Dawson account. Additionally, the solution should be compatible with current AV Dawson systems, while having the flexibility to adapt to alternative systems. The goal is to create a robust, user-friendly system that increases traceability, efficiency, and accuracy in safety compliance documentation, reducing the risk of error and injury.
Operatives
Mindset: At present, operatives can be resistant to change, with a "if it’s not broke, don’t fix it attitude”.
Language: Although all staff have proficiency in English, the standard of reading among operatives varies.
Technical Ability: Technical ability among operatives varies.
Supervisors / Managers
Loosing Track: Supervisors and managers face challenges in maintaining oversight when operational staff are on holiday and may have missed an important update.
HSE TEAM
Resource-heavy: The effort involved in scanning, sending, and tracking paper documents, can be highly time-consuming.
Lack of Traceability: The lack of traceability creates uncertainty about which staff members have not received necessary information. This can become an issue when an incident occurs as investigations become more difficult, leading to potential delays in resolving issues.
Operatives:
Mindset: Foster a more open and positive attitude towards digital solutions by emphasising the benefits of the new systems such as increased efficiency, reduced paperwork, and improved traceability.
Language: Ensure that all operatives can easily understand and engage with digital materials by providing clear, concise instructions, using plain language and accessibility features, such as text to speech
Technical Ability: Any new digital systems should be non-complicated, and accessible for all levels of technical ability.
Supervisors / Managers
Keeping Track: A reliable system that highlights when staff have not received important updates.
HSE TEAM
Digitalisation and automation: A streamlined digital system that significantly reduces the time spent on documentation tasks.
Traceability: This system will allow managers to easily identify which staff members have confirmed their understanding. With real-time access to accurate data, identifying and addressing the cause of issues will be streamlined.
Manual Process: The current process relies on print documents, which are left on desks for staff to sign. This can be time-consuming and prone to errors. Documents are then typically scanned in and saved by the HSE team, creating additional workload and limiting the ability to filter.
Lack of Inclusivity: The current system poses significant challenges for operatives. Not everyone has access to a company smartphone (or is prepared to use their personal device), and varying levels of tech savviness hinder some employees from effectively using digital platforms. Additionally, the inability to accommodate different languages further alienates non-English speakers.
Calling Out Key Change: Failing to call out critical changes in documents can lead to confusion and wasted time for users, as they may have to re-read information. This lack of clarity increases the risk of missing important revisions.
Visibility of previous updates - when someone signs a new document, it is not easy to find and re-review previous communications.
Confirmation of understanding: There is a lack of assessment regarding the quality of the information presented, or how well the information has been understood.
Chasing signatures: The current system requires HSE staff to manually chase signatures from managers via emails, resulting in unnecessary email traffic.
Visibility of who has signed:
Limited visibility into who has signed in complicates tracking and accountability.
User Identification: Operatives do not have a need to engage with other digital systems and therefore don’t require an AV Dawson account, meaning they do not have a unique digital identifier.
Scattered information: Currently, data is often fragmented, leading to multiple sources of truth that complicate analysis and hinder confidence in the information available.
Manual Process: A digital system will significantly enhance efficiency and accuracy. By eliminating the reliance on paper and manual data entry, the system will improve reporting and analytics as digital information can more be more easily filtered and transformed.
Improved Inclusivity: Introduce a more inclusive digital environment that accommodates all operatives, regardless of their access to technology or language proficiency.
Calling Out Key Change: Drawing user’s attention to key changes, saving them the time and effort of sifting through familiar content.
Visibility of previous updates- providing access to an update log, with the ability to review past documents.
Confirmation of understanding: Ability to verify comprehension and understanding, through short questionnaires.
Automated reminders: Automatically flagging overdue tasks and sending reminder notifications.
Visibility of who has signed: Improving traceability through tools like a dashboard will provide real-time visibility into who has signed in and accessed essential documents.
User Identification: Implementing a secure user identification system to verifiably link operatives to completed documents.
Single source of truth: By establishing a single source of truth, HSE staff will have access to accurate and consistent information, that can be interrogated with confidence.
Staff confidence: Poor communication between staff members leads to misunderstandings and hinders collaboration, further eroding trust and team cohesion.
Environmental Impact: Currently, there is a high usage of paper.
Risk of Error and Injury: Gaps in knowledge of up-to-date health and safety policies can lead to increased risk of incidents.
Efficiency: Excess staff time is currently spent on the bureaucracy associated with implementing health and safety policy.
Staff confidence: Confidence in the system helps staff to feel more confident in their roles.
Environmental Impact: Embracing a streamlined, digital solution will significantly reduce paper usage.
Reduced Risk of Error and Injury: The system will ensure accurate and timely implementation of new health and safety policy, reducing risk of error.
Efficiency: Digital and automated systems free up staff time to spend on day to day tasks.
To access this support, you must be a small or medium-sized business based in Tees Valley (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland, or Stockton-On-Tees).
Support is fully funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Tees Valley Innovation Challenge is delivered by Edge Innovation Ltd and Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria on behalf of the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority, and the Tees Valley Business Board.
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