A Tassie plumber has developed a smartphone app that aims to make reporting health and safety issues a breeze. Callum Fitzpatrick reports.

The new Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws have not been implemented by every State (Victoria has refused to adopt the legislation and Western Australia has delayed its approval); however, regulations are now stricter across the majority of Australia, so both employers and employees need to make sure they are extra-vigilant about reporting dangers in the workplace. The problem is; it can simply be a chore for plumbers to complete a wealth of paperwork before every single job.

In an effort to streamline the whole process, the iPlumbSafe app has been introduced. Rosetta Plumbing Managing Director Robert Pearshouse has branched out into developing plumbing-specific software solutions under the moniker ‘TheiPlumber’ and is the brains behind the development. Robert says he’s all too familiar with jobsite dangers himself, so he decided to create a tool to make it easier to recognise worksite dangers.

“I’ve personally had a number of injuries while working as a plumber. I reckon that if I would’ve taken a moment to consider the risks of a situation, I could have avoided many of these,” Robert says.

This mentality is firmly embedded throughout the app and it’s encapsulated with its slogan, ‘Five minutes to save a life’.

“If plumbers take five minutes to stop, identify, assess and analyse any risks before they carry out a job, a lot of unnecessary accidents can be avoided,” Robert adds.

As well as being a tool that has the potential to save lives, the app also provides a consistent way of reporting WHS issues – something that Robert says is currently missing in the plumbing industry.

“Some larger plumbing companies have big budgets, enabling them to develop their own in-house systems, but this simply isn’t practical for the majority of our industry,” he says.

“However, there are many ‘maintenance’ plumbers who have to fill out an A4 risk assessment page before every job. These papers often made up of a list of generic questions that aren’t tailored to a particular job. We believe that the considerations need to be more specific, and that’s where the app comes in.”

iPlumbSafe’s interface is simple to navigate – after filling out some personal details, the user selects a plumbing task, identifies the risks that may be associated with the job and then answers a series of ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions to indicate whether hazards have been considered and removed. If a danger is deemed to be recognised by the user and is no longer present, they will be instructed to proceed with caution. If the app recognises that there is still a risk, the user is directed to return to a particular point to rectify the situation.

After completing these questions, a PDF document of the responses can be emailed to the relevant manager for record keeping. This is what Robert believes is iPlumbSafe’s most important feature.

“This is essential for both employees and employers,” he says. “It alerts employees of risks that they might not have otherwise considered and it gives employers a document they can revisit if an accident does occur.

“The new WHS laws are much stricter than the old OH&S regulations, so if something goes wrong onsite, the employer needs to be able to prove that they took the appropriate measures to protect against a mishap.”

Taking this a step further, iPlumbSafe also includes a Safe Work Procedures (SWP) library, which features 50 SWP documents for an array of different scenarios, as well as a Safety Data Sheets (SDS) library for information on commonly used hazardous chemicals.

“If you’re on a job and you’re using a chemical, such as solvent cement or a sealant, legislation states that you have to consult an SDS,” Robert explains.

“Instead of having the documents hidden away in somebody’s van, it makes more sense to have the information tucked in your pocket at all times. That way, if somebody splashes a harmful liquid on their face, or they come into contact with an irritant, they can quickly consult the library and find out the necessary procedure to remedy the issue.”

Robert adds that the proliferation of mobile technology meant that an app was always going to be the ideal medium for this tool.
“If I give my staff the option of flicking through a folder and ticking boxes with a pen, or quickly touching a screen on a phone, they’re always going to choose the phone. I think that a generational change has sparked this shift, but it’s just the way the times are moving – everybody seems to have a smartphone these days.”

“I’m a plumber and when it comes to safety, I have to jump through the same hoops as everybody else. I wanted to introduce an electronic product that makes it easier for everyone. I’m also very passionate about the plumbing industry and I love technology, so combining the two just made complete sense to me.”

The iPlumbSafe app is available for iPhone through the iTunes App Store and on the Android platform through Google Play.