Tracking and keeping maintenance personnel safe with Appian
To replace outdated paper- and email-based site access management processes, the organisation has built multiple process automation applications on the Appian AI Process Platform, including an application optimised for mobile use, to monitor and manage site visits.
The solution gives the organisation greater control over the personnel who visit its sites to undertake maintenance, the ability to respond quickly to changing site access requirements and a deeper understanding of the qualifications of its maintenance contractors.
Formerly Broadcast Australia, BAI Communications operates and maintains terrestrial radio and television services for the ABC and SBS, tower services including colocation and managed services for commercial radio and television, and the New South Wales Telco Authority public safety network used by police and emergency services.
According to Jenny Cook, Head of Enterprise Solutions, BAI Communications, prior to deployment of the solution, BAI Communications relied on manually checking red folders located at individual sites for health and safety onboarding. “Someone had to flick through the folder [to make ensure they were aware of any safety information at the site]; it wasn’t a proper process we could be sure someone had been through,” said Cook.
Problems caused by these inadequate processes were exacerbated in the case of high-risk work. According to Andrew Gow, Manager, Broadcast Applications, BAI Communications, the organisation had faced a “huge problem” determining whether personnel who performed climbing, rigging or electrical work met its site access requirements. “We would have to go back and forth on email to work out whether these applicants were ready to go,” he said.
Selecting Appian as a ‘tool of choice’
Four years ago, the organisation began upgrading its site access processes, and selected Appian as its “tool of choice” to build out the way contractors register, pre-qualify, be approved for and attend site to carry out work.
“Today, the site access solution at BAI Communications is considered a success within the organisation,” said Cook.
The organisation now runs its site access management mobile application with about 10,000 users registered by BAI Communications. The application enables the organisation to capture and manage who individuals are and their qualifications; their readiness to attend site; whether their certificates are in date; whether they’ve completed inductions; and whether they’ve acknowledged the BAI Communications policies designed to keep them and site environments safe.
Seamless integration streamlines processes
On the data fabric side, the application integrates with two service management systems used to manage BAI Communications’ contracts and a customer relationship management system, as well as two other systems.
“[Among other things], we need to ensure that if someone wants to attend a site, they have actually won the bid that allows them to attend, or that they do have infrastructure on our sites that requires their attendance,” said Gow.
“Our new application, with these integrations, means we can easily check this information and respond accordingly.”
The application integrates seamlessly with approval workflows, with each request sent to the appropriate group within the organisation for review, based on the type of work involved. Once an applicant receives approval to visit a BAI Communications site, they can review site-specific risks or hazards, as these may change daily.
“By having integration points with our service management systems, we can ensure the most up-to-date information is available to contractors, and ensure they have read and acknowledged it prior to going on site,” said Gow. “They acknowledge whether anything has changed since the last time they’ve been on site, sign in and log in.
“We can also have our control centre log them on to site to ensure we have the required records, if for any reason they have not been able to operate their mobile phones.”
Easily introducing new functionality
The Appian-based system enables BAI Communications to easily introduce new functionality to account for changing circumstances. For example, during the coronavirus pandemic, the organisation was able to quickly add a question to determine whether a contractor was vaccinated, advise of and request compliance with local, state and territory arrangements implemented to restrict spread of the virus.
BAI Communications’ operational control centre now has visibility of people on site including estimated times of departure with 30-minute countdowns, enabling the organisation to contact people overdue to leave to check on their safety.
The organisation has achieved a range of benefits from the Appian-based system through cutting out steps, eliminating emails and consolidating data and management to a single location.
BAI Communications has also recorded some unexpected improvements in contractor management. “We now have a list of all our [contractors] and the skills they have, so when we go out to bid for a big project, we can look at all the contractors we have on file [and determine the best for that project],” said Gow.
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