Field service management is not for the faint of heart. Operating complex machinery, spending long hours away from home, and working at dizzying heights requires not just skill, but guts.
Despite the nature of the work, mortal danger shouldn’t be an inherent part of the job description. And despite every utility’s efforts to keep their workforce safe, preventable tragedies occur far too frequently in the industry. Safety in field service management must remain a top priority. In 2021 alone, utility workers suffered 20,000 medically-consulted injuries, and these don’t include the fatal injuries that occurred.[1] According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, installation, maintenance, and repair occupations endured 475 fatalities in 2021—an increase of 20.9 percent from the previous year.[2] Fatal injuries of oil and gas extraction workers totaled 54 in 2021.[3]
Amid global energy crises and ballooning demand for field service work, utilities must prioritize worker safety above all else. Companies that cannot prove that they take their employees’ safety seriously will only incur rising costs while exacerbating burnout and low morale among their workforce. Ultimately, this results in the loss of critical talent to competitors.
So, what makes safety in field service management possible? Digital field service management solutions that empower safety through a blend of predictive and corrective maintenance capabilities.
“End-to-end field service management (FSM) solutions are the best way to execute appropriate training, mitigate risks that come with field service work, and reinforce compliance.” — Matt Danna for Occupational Health and Safety, August 2022[1]
In this ebook, we’ll identify the overarching approach to field service management safety, discuss the energy industry’s core safety challenges, and highlight key FSM best practices that every utility can add to its arsenal.
When we talk about applied solutions to safety in field service management, they generally fall into two categories: preventative and corrective. We’ll discuss those in greater detail below. [1]
The primary goal of preventative safety is to prevent or mitigate equipment or system failures before they occur. Preventative maintenance plays aRead abou large role in this; it ensures that the asset remains in optimal working condition, reducing the chances of critical failure and potentially hazardous situations. Moreover, preventative maintenance reduces the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns, minimizes downtime, and extends the lifespan of equipment.
In most instances, corrective safety (also known as reactive safety) involves repairing assets or systems after a fault or failure occurs. Catastrophic equipment failure—or even instances of slip and fall accidents—can prove highly dangerous to the responders, and corrective safety aims to keep them as safe as possible while they work to address the issue.[1] This definition holds true in field service management; however, in this ebook, corrective safety also refers to equipping field service workers with the right tools and resources to maximize safety as they work in real-time. Corrective safety aims to minimize the chances of workers encountering a dangerous situation, even after a fault or critical equipment failure.
Utilities must implement both preventative and corrective measures to maintain robust safety measures in field service management.
To read more on what is stalling worker’s safety, download the full State of Safety in Field Service Management ebook.
[1] “Top Work-Related Injury Causes.” Injury Facts, National Safety Council, https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/work/work-overview/top-work-related-injury-causes/
[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2020.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d., https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm
[3] Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries News Release – December 16, 2022.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 16 Dec. 2022, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/cfoi_12162022.htm
[4] Danna, Matt. “Field Service Management: Safety First.” Occupational Health & Safety Online, 16 Aug. 2022, https://ohsonline.com/articles/2022/08/16/field-service-management.aspx
[5] Broder, John M. “BP Shortcuts Led to Gulf Oil Spill, Report Says.” The New York Times, 15 Sep. 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/science/earth/15spill.html