Atlantic TNG invests in an environmental, health and safety management platform and gets much more than it bargained for.

When Atlantic TNG of Sarasota, Fla., began evaluating safety software suites, the precaster ended up with an application that can handle a lot more than just safety. According to Jason Brewster, safety and compliance manager of Atlantic TNG, the company was looking for software that it could use to manage the environmental, health and safety (EHS) aspects of its business but was coming up empty-handed.

“We couldn’t find anything on the market that met our needs,” Brewster said.

He wanted a safety suite for creating digital training and inspection logs, which were primarily handled manually and on paper. The safety suite would be used to log any accidents or injuries and then use that data to calculate OSHA metrics such as the total recordable incident rate (TRIR) and days away, restricted or transferred (DART).

“I wasn’t dead set on going digital at that point, but after talking to one of our sales reps about KPA Flex and seeing how customizable the platform was, we decided to give it a try,” Brewster said.

Leveraging Tech to Reduce EHS Risk

KPA Flex is safety management software that allows users to manage their own safety program in an all-in-one EHS software system. The cloud-based system enables easy reporting, investigating and tracking of workplace incidents and near misses. It also captures information about employee training, helps companies stay compliant with current regulations and ultimately leverages technology to help reduce EHS risk.

Atlantic TNG, which recently won NPCA’s Best Practices Award for its use of KPA Flex, began using the platform in 2023 to track nonemergency maintenance issues and purchase requests. It’s also using the system to archive concrete test results and inspections for the batch plant; track key performance indicators (KPIs); and develop checklists for a variety of tasks.

The application also creates workflows that alert the responsible parties to their tasks as well as tracking progress toward completion. Brewster says these are some of the “undiscovered capabilities” that the platform manages beyond just serving as a safety suite.

“The platform wasn’t necessarily being marketed for those functions, but early on it was clear that we could use it outside of the safety realm,” he said. “That’s what really sold us on the software.”

Today, Atlantic TNG can create workflows for purchasing requests and maintenance issues. This ensures that tasks are completed while metrics for other tasks (e.g., concrete testing) can be extracted and used to generate graphs for easy result tracking. Certain forms can be submitted from an employee’s phone, allowing workers to create workflows quickly with minimal disruption to their workdays.

An Expansive Forms Library

KPA Flex’s “Forms Library” contains an impressive list of all of the forms that the precaster uses to manage its operations. There are 163 total forms, each of which can be customized to the company’s or the user’s specifications and requirements. Take the single pickup form for forklift inspections, for example. Operators use it to record their activities, report any issues with their equipment and alert managers about any potential problems. Those issues can then be addressed proactively, versus waiting for equipment to break down before addressing the problems.

Implementing the forklift inspection capability required a bit of work because QR codes had to be generated, laminated and then adhered to the vehicles themselves. Today, all operators have to do is scan the QR codes with their mobile devices and enter any related data. In the past, most of this work was handled manually, on spreadsheets and/or using paper-based systems.

“We can also do lockout/tagout on the equipment, submit repair requests and take other proactive steps,” Brewster said. “It makes it a lot easier for our fleet manager to track, too, because once or twice a week he can go through the inspections, see what’s being reported and work to get ahead of things before any potential breakdowns even occur.”

Robust Workflows

Recently, Atlantic TNG started using KPA Flex to digitize all of its owner’s manuals, parts manuals and other reference materials that employees can now access and read online. The software suite also offers a number of application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable integrations with other third-party applications. Looking ahead, Brewster hints that an integration with the company’s payroll processor could be coming in the near future.

As he ponders the top benefits of using EHS software for safety and other aspects of Atlantic TNG’s business, Brewster said one of the biggest “wins” is the fact that minor tasks no longer get “pushed to the side or forgotten about” in favor of more pressing responsibilities. In reviewing the company’s current list of maintenance requests, for example, he said five such requests were submitted over the course of the prior seven days.

With all of that data in its safety suite – and using the software’s detailed workflows – everyone now knows that the parts needed to be ordered and maintenance performed on those five different pieces of equipment. The initial setup of those workflows took some time and effort, according to Brewster, but that early legwork has paid off over time.

“With the right workflows in place, the purchase request goes right to the owner for approval and then to the purchaser, who places the order,” Brewster said. “Then, two weeks later, the buyer reviews the purchase to make sure the parts arrived or track any changes in ETA, etc. It’s a very streamlined process that doesn’t leave room for anything to be overlooked.”

Once a form has been developed it can easily be duplicated and used to create another custom form by simply changing a few questions or lines. The company’s human resources (HR) team uses the platform to manage 30-day and annual employee reviews, for example.

All in One Place

Brewster really likes how the application puts the power of mobility into the hands of Atlantic TNG’s employees. This is particularly helpful for inventory requests, which were traditionally handled manually. Today, an employee submits an inventory request that is sent to a forklift driver. That driver picks up the requested item and delivers it to the requester.

“We no longer have people walking all the way to the storage room to grab a hammer,” Brewster said.

The software also has lowered the downtime for Atlantic TNG’s cranes, forklifts and other equipment. If OHSA were to show up for an inspection, the precaster would have all of the digital records it needed in one place. It recently added sales tracking capabilities into the platform, which generates a daily sales report for the company’s leaders to review.

Making the Leap

To other precasters that may be considering any of the many available EHS software platforms, Brewster said the initial time and money put into the implementation, rollout and customization were well worth it.

“For us, the platform has produced a significant return on investment (ROI) within a short period of time,” he said. “There are lot of capabilities we haven’t even dug into yet, like safety data sheet management.”

Atlantic TNG also wants to use the platform to manage employee records, with associates being able to use their mobile phones to submit information and respond to queries.

“There’s a lot that this platform can do,” Brewster said. “I wasn’t overly impressed with the safety suites on the market, but when I learned about Flex KPA, I realized there was a lot more we could do with it so we made the leap.”