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For the past five years, our team at MindForge has been researching and analyzing the systematic issues related to serious injuries and fatalities on construction jobs, with the goal to better provide education and training to those most at risk.
We’re on a mission to pursue zero: zero injury and zero lives lost on construction jobs. Our research has shown that integrating a holistic technology platform that helps communicate and send education materials directly to workers in the field drastically improves safety while also increasing efficiency.
However, in our years of research, we’ve come across a handful of myths that we’re constantly trying to bust related to the implementation of mobile devices on the job site and adding more tools in the proverbial toolbox. Check out the five most common myths to be debunked below:
1. Craft workers won’t engage with training
We understand this is a common fear when it comes to integrating a new tool: “What if my team doesn’t use it?” In our experience onboarding partners, none of their teams have expressed issues with adopting the new platform.
In fact, Pankow Builders deployed MindForge to train its team for a new site project and saw a 98% training completion rate compared to its previous completion rate of 15%.
Our Construction LifeSaver training course focuses on actionable steps, not rules and regulations. When the content is delivered in a relaxed, peer-to-peer tone with interactive simulators, it is engaging for craft workers. Our partners have shared that their employees find the training interactive and fun, but it’s also direct and only gives them the most important information.
"The videos are very detailed and most of the topics I relate to at my job."
- Machine Operator
2. Encouraging workers to look at their phones while they are on the field will distract them from the task at hand
According to JB Knowledge’s 2020 Construction Technology Report, 92% of the construction industry already uses a smartphone for work daily, using mobile devices to safely view BIM models, installation drawings, project documents and more, all while on the job site.
It’s up to you to determine your communication strategy with your team. If you don’t want to barrage your workers with information, don’t barrage them and set a strategy to communicate during downtimes, like lunch or before they begin project work. Leveraging the power of the device and taking advantage of delivering clear communication will better support your team’s goals, safely.
3. Our EMR is some of the lowest in the industry, we don’t need any more safety tools
Some contractors may say that their EMR is good, their team is doing great and they don’t need to entertain new ideas. Our philosophy is, you’re either getting better or getting worse and you rarely stay in the same place for long. Every job site is just one accident away from a hit to your safety record and reputation, so best to be as prepared as possible. There is a quote from Heraclitus that says, “No one ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he or she is not the same person.” Every day is a new day, and every day your EMR is on the table.
MindForge was designed by contractors, for contractors, and beyond putting safety education in the palms of your workers’ hands, we’re helping improve two-way communication to ensure you complete your projects on time and on budget. The top-notch contractors we work with never rest on their laurels and seek improvement every day.
4. The tools I use to communicate with my office teams work for my field crews
From our research, we know that most often field workers don’t have a company email address due to costs and security requirements, and it’s possible they don’t regularly check their personal emails. Therefore it’s difficult for you as a superintendent to communicate with and keep track of field on-site workers.
Office workers and field workers are two very unique and distinct audiences with different communication requirements. Platforms like Teams and Slack are built to support people that sit in offices, whereas MindForge is a tool that supports people on the go who are working in the field.
We’ve heard from our partner organizations that many people in the workforce use social media and prefer using mobile apps in their personal lives to connect and receive information, so an app like MindForge leverages this concept in the workplace to put information in front of workers in a way so many have become accustomed to.
This also keeps workers’ just-in-time training and notes from their supervisors all readily accessible in one place to keep safety and your culture of quality top of mind.
"I believe [MindForge is] going to be a great tool for us to utilize for training and project communications. As we build our libraries, we will be able to assign and track training and have a platform for refresher courses, and a means to get it to the field and office."
- Quality Manager
5. Better communication with the field workforce is a low priority
Is performance excellence a top priority? If so, streamlining communication should be too.
As a superintendent, you’re constantly looking for solutions to your challenges in order to streamline and create more efficiencies. You might be getting by with what you currently have for communication, but what tools are you using to achieve operational efficiency and performance excellence?
When Pankow rolled out MindForge, they not only improved safety training completion but ultimately saved 641 man-hours while training 47 construction workers on 6 required training topics, saving the company more than $12,600 in training time on a single job site.
If these myths sound like any of your recent conversations, reach out to us to learn more about how MindForge can improve your job site communication, increase operational efficiency and protect the bottom line by scheduling a demo today.