Get Safe...
...Instalec in partnership with CALA Group
A new Health and Safety solution from Instalec has enabled UK property developer, CALA Group, to complete regulatory compliant site safety inspections on-site and in real-time, whilst generating significant cost savings by bringing the process in-house…
CALA Group Ltd is one of the UK's leading privately-owned residential and commercial property developers. The company is headquartered in Edinburgh and has offices in Aberdeen, Falkirk, Birmingham, Leeds and Staines. CALA has three main businesses: CALA Homes, CALA Properties and CALA Finance.
CALA Homes offers a wide product range in desirable locations including detached houses, townhouses, conversions and city-centre apartments. CALA Finance Ltd procures 100% funding for small and medium-sized house builders together with professional support and advice on residential development. CALA Properties Ltd manages, develops and invests in commercial property.
The company has an annual turnover of £290 million, 350 full-time staff and additional temporary contract staff.
The Situation
At any one time, CALA has around 40 construction sites across the UK with a statutory requirement to meet industry health and safety obligations for its employees, self employed, clients, contractors, the public and others that may be affected by any of their operations.
“Our new Health and Safety solution from Instalec is a big step forward for our inspectors who can now gather data and produce inspection reports whilst on site. We are also generating significant cost savings by bringing the process in-house.”Andy Murray
Group IT Director
CALA Group
CALA recognise that the effective management of health and safety inspections is an integral and essential part of their successful business and that the co-operation and partnership of staff at all levels is vital in achieving their continual health and safety performance.
CALA previously outsourced much of their health and safety site inspections to a third party, this proved not only costly, but also diluted their control over the inspections and limited their reporting capabilities.
The Solution
Instalec’s Software Development Team were tasked by CALA to provide their Safety Managers with a software solution that would not only support the carrying out of health and safety site inspections but also relay the information gathered directly to office staff and their mobile work force. Instalec’s ability to fully understand CALA’s specific business requirements during the information gathering phase ensured a detailed and comprehensive specification, followed by the smooth delivery of the developed solution on-time and within budget.
“The process of conducting a safety inspection report has been greatly improved by the solution, moving away from a paper based system allows our inspection managers to key in observational data on-site and therefore eliminates the need to ‘write up’ inspection reports afterwards, greatly reducing the time required to conduct the inspection.”
Andy Murray
Group IT Director
CALA Group
The Results
The software provides invaluable real-time trend analysis and access to historic data whilst on-site and off-line.
The project was completed quickly and within budget, with the initial information gathering stage to the roll-out of taking just 3 months!
The success of this implementation can be measured not only in the cost savings gained by the efficiencies of inspection scheduling, inspections and reporting capabilities but also on the ability to better analyse the data.
High priority observations are now automatically managed by the software solution ensuring the appropriate site manager and back office managers are notified by email and tasked to carry out any requested actions.
All evidence of the actions are also recorded along with the timeframe of when actions were conducted.
Using the developed solution CALA can now schedule, manage and conduct their own safety inspections, simply and efficiently. Providing instant access to historical data while on site also provides additional intelligence previously not possible.
Statistical and management reports are now generated automatically by the software allowing staff to concentrate on analysing the data and gaining increased visibility on specific trends. To accelerate user acceptance, Instalec went on site with assigned Safety Managers to ensure the software worked in a manner that was intuitive, quick and simple to use.
Throughout the development of the solution, Instalec actively involved the staff that would be using the software and incorporated their specific needs into the design. This ensured prompt acceptance from the users as illustrated by the positive feedback.
“The feedback from CALA on this solution has been excellent. Not just around the obvious cost savings, that are welcome in the construction industry at this time, but around the reporting features, ease of data recording and real-time analytical functionality of the system.
At Instalec we offer a full turnkey approach to software project delivery, including, requirements gathering, testing, deployment, training and ongoing support. Chris Forbes
Software Director, Instalec
Instalec provide a range of industry specific software solutions, for further information or to book a consultation with one of our software team please contact us on 01224 746451 or email software@instalec.co.uk