Beyond Compliance: When Safety Software Becomes an Operations Tool

When Utilitra implemented Flex, they had clear goals: improve safety reporting, increase field auditing, and create better compliance documentation. Within their first year, they achieved all of that—a 300% increase in good catch/near-miss reporting and 200% improvement in field auditing above their goals.

But something unexpected happened along the way. Operational managers started seeing possibilities that went far beyond EHS. One project manager’s innovation sparked a chain reaction that’s reshaping how the company thinks about the relationship between safety and operations.

The Initial Goal: A Better Way to Manage Safety

Utilitra, a woman-owned engineering, technology, and construction firm serving the utility sector, faced a familiar challenge. With field workers scattered across multiple job sites and diverse customer requirements, their small safety department needed technology that could scale with them.

The company started with the basics—digitizing their paper audit forms and introducing good catch/near-miss reporting through the mobile app.

The results came quickly. Field workers embraced the technology with minimal training. As Wernex puts it: “80 to 90% of the users, as soon as they had the mobile app, they just started clicking and they knew where to go from there.” The intuitive design meant workers could submit reports, complete audits, and document conditions without jumping between multiple devices or systems.

If Utilitra had stopped there, the implementation would have been a clear success. But that’s when things got interesting.

The Surprise Factor: Operations Sees the Potential

During regular manager meetings, Wernex would share updates about the safety platform’s performance. Word spread about the tool’s flexibility and ease of use. Then one project manager approached him with an idea that had nothing to do with safety compliance.

The manager was starting a new project and saw an opportunity to use Flex as an operational support tool. That confidence in the platform—born from watching field workers successfully adopt it for safety—opened the door to creative problem-solving that went well beyond the tool’s original purpose.

Case Study: A Project Manager’s Innovation

Here’s what the project manager built using Flex’s forms-to-assets functionality:

Customer Addresses as Assets

The team set up multiple assets in the project manager’s group and downloaded hundreds of customer addresses to those assets. This meant every job location was pre-loaded in the system, eliminating manual entry errors and ensuring crews always knew exactly where they needed to be.

Pre-Job and Post-Job Documentation

Using forms-to-assets, the team built custom forms that allowed crews to capture pre-job conditions and photos before starting work. The same form collected data on materials and conditions that the customer required. After completing the job, crews documented post-work conditions—showing exactly how they left the site—all on a single, streamlined form.

Material Tracking for Billing

The form also captures materials used data for billing purposes. Everything is recorded by address, and since addresses are pre-loaded, there are no transcription errors or missing information when it’s time to invoice.

Weekly Automated Reports

Wernex set up recurring scheduled reports that automatically go to the manager on a weekly basis. The manager uses this information to put together billing and monitor project progress. No chasing down paperwork. No compiling data from multiple sources. The information arrives ready to use.

The Ripple Effect: One Success Sparks Division-Wide Interest

Word travels in organizations. When other managers heard about this project’s success during their regular meetings, the wheels started turning. People began thinking about other ways they could use the platform for their own operational challenges.

Now another division at Utilitra is building pre-bid forms and walkdown forms that will also be associated with projects. This allows them to keep all information organized by project—not just operational data, but also all the audits, good catches, and safety documentation in one place.

Another example emerged organically: production logs. Managers now use Flex to capture manpower, subcontractor information, delays, and issues encountered on job sites. As soon as forms are filled out, notifications go to the right people automatically. Field workers appreciate the efficiency—they collect their information, hit submit, and move on to the next task without juggling multiple devices or apps.

Marrying Safety and Operations: Better for Everyone

This integration makes sense when you think about it. Field workers don’t separate their work into “safety tasks” and “operations tasks”—they’re doing the job. When the same intuitive platform handles both, adoption becomes natural. Workers aren’t learning one system for safety and another for project documentation. They’re using one tool that helps them do their entire job more efficiently.

The benefits compound. Better documentation improves quality control. Streamlined reporting frees up time for actual work. Having all project data—operational and safety-related—organized in one place means faster issue resolution and more informed decision-making.

The ROI Beyond Safety: Quality, Production, and Efficiency

When evaluating safety software, most organizations focus on compliance metrics: incident rates, training completion, audit frequency. These matter, and Utilitra hit those targets impressively in their first year.

But the operational applications unlock additional ROI that doesn’t show up in typical EHS metrics. Consider the project manager’s innovation: automated billing data collection, eliminated transcription errors, reduced labor for documentation, faster project monitoring. These efficiency gains have real dollar value that extends the return on the software investment.

The flexibility of the forms-to-assets feature means organizations can address business challenges they didn’t originally plan for.

Each new application compounds the platform’s value.

Leadership Feedback: The Ultimate Validation

Perhaps the strongest indicator of success isn’t in the data at all.

When busy operational managers take time to praise a safety tool to their colleagues, something significant has happened. The technology has crossed the threshold from “compliance requirement” to “operations asset.” That shift in perception drives sustained adoption and opens doors to continued innovation.

What This Means for Your Organization

Utilitra’s experience highlights an often-overlooked factor in safety software selection: flexibility. The platform you choose should solve your immediate safety challenges, certainly. But it should also be adaptable enough to grow with your organization and address needs you haven’t anticipated yet.

When field workers genuinely adopt a tool—when they find it easy and actually helpful—creativity follows. Your teams will find applications you never considered. Your operational leaders will become advocates. And your ROI will extend far beyond the compliance improvements you initially planned.