Large Companies: How to standardise internal QHSE practices?

After hitting a certain size, organising and managing becomes complex, especially when the company is multi-site, multi-subsidiary, multicultural... with heterogeneous decision-making processes. What about QHSE processes? Here are a few tips to get through them.

The internal organisation of a company or group can quickly become complex. Seeking to simplify its processes or at least harmonise them is an objective shared by many QHSE departments in order to avoid the "gas factory" effect. However, it is possible to rely on a major ally: digital technology. 

A digital transformation process is both fundamental from an organisational and economic point of view, provided that it is accompanied by this change. 

Before any internal change: communicate

Change management within a group or a company consists of supporting the development of a project or the transformation of an existing process in a continuous improvement objective. The evolution of processes is never an easy task, reconsidering certain work habits and forcing teams to be accommodating.  

The objective for the management team is to present the project simply and clearly to its teams, the reasons and the objectives. It is necessary to answer the employees' questions, to reassure them, to present them the steps and changes that will take place within the organisation. This communication work is essential in order to involve all of the company's stakeholders to this development project and, above all, to answer any difficulties that may arise. 

Nowadays, the continuous improvement initiatives are all converging towards a digital management method, which simplifies administrative procedures and offers infinite possibilities for development. For many companies, a digital transformation is a real challenge and requires the support of employees. 

Digitalisation for homogenisation

Digitalisation is a trigger to homogenise internal practices. A digitised process can be duplicated and deployed across a complex organisation. The idea is therefore to think through the process before transposing it to a digital tool. Here are some significant advantages of digitising processes:

• Involving all stakeholders: By digitising a process (audit, non-conformity management, certification...), it is possible to offer access to employees, suppliers or customers. Each person is involved in the process in a personalised way with different access rights to the solution according to their profile.
• Centralise all data: The ideal is to centralise all data in a single tool (rely on a global QHSE management solution such as BlueKanGo for example). This avoids loss of information and redundancies and ensures that employees have up-to-date versions of protocols or quality documentation. Digitisation enables the storage and traceability of information.
• Simplify communication: The implementation of workflows allows each employee to receive real-time alerts, to report a dangerous situation or non-compliance or to access up-to-date protocols at all times... whether on a tablet, a smartphone or a computer. This limits email exchanges and the multiplication of files.
• Gain in reactivity: A digital solution can be used quickly, without slowing down activity, which is crucial in periods of certification renewal, for example. The digital tool must take over the internal structure of the company, possibly simplify it, but never revolutionise it. It must also be able to communicate with other systems in order to automatically extract information from wherever it is located.
  
  

Digitalising QHSE practices: on which level?

For large groups with a complex organisation, digitisation can seem difficult and tedious. It is therefore important to present the advantages that it implies. Saving time, team flexibility and financial savings, yes, the digital tool is within everyone's reach and can revolutionise the dynamics of a group, subsidiaries and a company.

Company-wide

All employees are concerned: 

• Operators in the field are on the front line to report any problems, dangerous situations or possible needs where they are.
• Middle management can send or notify new objectives and instructions to its teams in real time.
• Management can use statistical tools to monitor the activity with constantly updated indicators. 
• Suppliers, distributors or customers can also have a specific access to answer satisfaction questionnaires, for example. 

QHSE is everyone's business, so it is essential to provide companies with unlimited access for their employees.

In a multi-site context

A digital management system can be managed with a single action plan even in multi-site contexts. It is a real guarantee of security for your organisation. A customisable tool is essential so the head office has access to a general platform and the secondary sites have access to additional platforms, whether in your country or anywhere else in the world. Each platform has access rights to independent databases according to the needs, and can be linked to each other. In all cases, they communicate with the "master" platform, which collects all data in real time.

The choice of modularity makes it possible to adapt to each type of organisation and to homogenise practices. This increases versatility from one site to another, in the event of team mobility, and the statistical data for all the sites can be accessed in just a few clicks by management and senior management.

Group-wide

At the group level, the same principle applies. An organisation adapted to the number of subsidiaries and the number of sites is recommended. Access rights and workflow are also implemented in a more complex way, but with the aim of centralising information and avoiding the multiplication of office files and emails, which can lead to errors and loss of data.

A global digital solution on a group scale is a considerable organisational and commercial strength, allowing greater workforce adaptability and mobility. A director, manager or employee will be equally at ease whatever the group's company, because he or she will already be familiar with the digital tools used.

From a communication and commercial point of view, this is the opportunity to standardise procedures, documentation and the graphic charter in order to ensure consistency in the group's strategy. The digital solution automatically generates formalised reports. An undeniable time-saver for tedious administrative tasks. 

Finally, from a financial point of view, choosing a single digital tool is a savings guarantee. Investing in a dedicated solution such as BlueKanGo simplifies processes and therefore increases productivity with less administrative work, less time wasted exchanging files or emails, and a common use and sharing of knowledge which, at a group level, ensures significant savings.  

In the entrepreneurial world, it is important to regularly question one's strategy and processes in order to remain efficient and competitive. Digital is omnipresent. It is essential to make it an ally in driving your organisation to the highest level. Time saving, team versatility and adaptability, distance working, all key points that will set you apart by homogenising inter-site and inter-company practices and make your organisation a model of quality of life at work, success and sustainability.