Five Smartphone Safety Apps to Extend #StandDown4Safety Week

May 9, 2016

This year’s National Safety Stand Down Week is in the books and we start off a new week mindful of the fact that construction safety is important all 52 weeks of the year. Fatalities caused by construction workers falling from high elevations is the number one cause of death in the construction industry, and as we’ve learned this week, most of these accidents are totally preventable. Here are five smartphone apps that can help reinforce the safety message all year long…

National Safety Stand Down Official App

You may have been using this app all week and there is no reason to stop now. Chock-full of resources including toolbox talks, guides and videos, the official app of #StandDown4Safety is a comprehensive repository for valuable information designed to raise awareness and help reduce or eliminate falls in the workplace. iPhone and iPad National Safety Stand-Down App Android National Safety Stand-Down App

Harness Hero

Safety professionals from all facets of the construction industry came together to develop this fun mobile game that tests a player’s skills in using a fall arrest system. In every part of Harness Hero, the player must choose where to place an anchor, what type of device to use for it, how to fasten a harness, etc. In this game, the user must also run a thorough inspection on the equipment, looking for rips, burns, rust, and possible areas of malfunction. The true test at the end is when the player falls – and you see the security of your system through the outcome of a rescue, injury, fatality, or walking away unscathed. iPhone and iPad Harness Hero Game Android Harness Hero Game

FallSafety

We aren’t normally ones to toot our own horn, but we built FallSafety Pro as a solution first and a business second. We are passionate about jobsite safety and we believe that shows when you use our app. FallSafety Pro monitors for falls using the sensors built into your iPhone or Android phone. After a fall is detected, an alarm sounds and the worker has 45 seconds to signal they are ok before emergency contacts are alerted by phone, text and email (including a link to a map with the exact location of the worker). FallSafety Pro for iPhone FallSafety Pro for Android

Safety Meeting

Your safety meetings are important and this app is designed to efficiently track meetings, incidents, employee attendance, and more. Users of the app have the ability to track accidents, incidents, and close calls & print them via PDF format. Safety meetings are date stamped and attendance can be marked and attendance confirmed by using your camera. iPhone and iPad Safety Meeting App Android Safety Meeting App

NIOSH Ladder Safety

This slick safety app concentrates on proper ladder usage. Its smart, multimodal indicator uses sound, visual, and vibrations to help the person position the ladder at a perfect angle. The interactive reference guidelines, checklists and other materials even assist with extension and stepladder inspection and use. iPhone and iPad Ladder Safety App Android Ladder Safety App

BONUS APP

Your Smartphone’s Camera

Using your smartphone’s camera can be pretty useful in documenting job sites where safety procedures are being practiced well and/or areas that can be improved. Being able to visually show employees in a recap meeting what is going on can boost your team’s morale and help with mitigating risks…hopefully leading to less accidents!

“I work on roofs everyday and while I use fall protection (ropes, harness, anchors) running this app gives me great peace of mind…This app runs smoothly in the background with very minimal battery use. I can run all my other apps and stream podcasts and music without any conflict with its performance.”