The Leeds office of international project management and cost consultants, Faithful+Gould, is tackling the issue of ever changing health & safety legislation head on.

Appalled at the health & safety records of a number of industries and alarmed that in the UK construction industry in excess of 50 people are killed each year, Wetherby based software company Mobile Safety Solutions (MSS) decided to try and reduce these needless deaths by designing a solution using Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) technology.

The resulting hand-held, touch screen solution developed by MSS, geared to reducing risks, health hazards and injuries sustained by employees in the workplace, required a period of stringent testing. As a result MSS approached Faithful+Gould, well known for being at the forefront of progressive health & safety provision, who seized the opportunity to be part of such an important trial. Faithful+Gould then embarked on a three month testing period which saw the PDAs being used by employees on sites all over the country as an efficient aid to undertaking site audits and inspections.

Colm Patton, regional director of Faithful+Gould, said:

“Faithful+Gould is proud of its reputation for being at the forefront of health & safety provision and during the trial, the PDAs have proved to be an immensely useful tool to have on site, especially when reporting time critical information.

“They will enable us to offer our clients an enhanced service as we will be able to report immediately on the information gathered whilst undertaking a safety audit. In addition, we anticipate that the PDAs will provide good returns on our investment by improving the operation and efficiency of inspections and audits.

“Because our clients and principal contractors can access the Internet hosted part of the system to sign-off completed deficiencies and view personalised reports of the audits and inspections, the existence of which is automatically notified to them by the solution, projects will undoubtedly benefit and our management can also use it to generate management reports and real-time statistical analysis on demand.

“The trial demonstrated significant benefits to us which has resulted in Faithful+Gould signing a contract to be equipped with the technology for a further two years.”


Brian Alsford of Mobile Safety Solutions, said:

“We are delighted that the trial has gone so well and that Faithful+Gould has decided to take out a two-year contract to be supplied with the solution. The PDA is the only device in the market that allows us to practically overcome the drawbacks of traditional health & safety checks carried out manually, such as paper work being lost or valuable delays occurring compiling lengthy paper reports.”

To begin development of the PDA and Internet based compliance management solution, Mobile Safety Solutions was awarded a grant of £30,000 by TeamInteract, a development programme funded by Yorkshire Forward to promote the use of broadband in business to Yorkshire based SMEs. MSS was subsequently awarded the Digital Yorkshire ‘Best Use Of Broadband’ Award in 2006 at the Queens Hotel in Leeds.

Email: alice.andreasen@clothierlacey.co.uk