The following is a transcript of the June 10, 2024, episode of Public Power Now. Learn more about subscribing to Public Power Now at Publicpower.org/Podcasts. Some quotes may have been edited for clarity.
Paul Ciampoli
Welcome to the latest episode of Public Power Now.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, APPA's News Director.
Our guests in this episode are Patrick Hart, APPA’s Senior Director for Resilience Programs, and Tori Leger, Employee Development Coordinator at Louisiana public power utility Lafayette Utilities System.
They are here to discuss the newly released APPA eSafety Tracker.
Pat and Tori, thanks for joining us.
Pat, I wanted to start with you and specifically I wanted to get you to detail how this tracker was developed and describe how the eSafety tracker development process was member driven.
Patrick Hart
Thanks, Paul, and I really appreciate this opportunity to talk about the new eSafety tracker, which as you mentioned was developed in close coordination with our members.
And the reason for that was we wanted people who would be using this tool every day to tell us what it should do and how it should do it, so members were a real key part of each stage in the development of this tool.
In fact, the process started a year or so ago with members telling us that utilities needed a a more advanced tracker with additional features and capabilities.
So after that we then held a series of listening sessions to get specific details on what our members needed in an online tool to manage their safety programs.
And based on that feedback from those listening sessions we developed an RFP for a contractor to help us build and maintain this new tool.
We met with several software companies.
We signed a contract with HGW and Associates. They developed a similar tool that's been used by the Department of Defense for the last 25 years.
That tool is the Enterprise Safety Applications Management Systems, or ESAMS.
We thought it would be better to customize that ESAMS tool for public power rather than to try to build a brand new system from the ground up.
In addition, HGW had a partnership with Brooke Sinclair from the EnSafe consulting firm, who has more than 20 years of experience working with power, so we felt really confident that we could develop what our members needed with that team.
They spent last fall building the tracker based on the ESAMS platform, and earlier this year we conducted a pilot of a beta version of the tool with four APPA members and that really was the key moment in the development of this tool.
We used the pilot to really test the ESAMS capabilities and customize it so it could be a one-stop shop for our utility safety programs.
Paul Ciampoli
Pat, I wanted to give you the opportunity to describe what the key features of this new tracker are.
Patrick Hart
I would start off by encouraging utilities to visit the eSafety tracker page on our website....[which] has a detailed listing of all the different features of the new eSafety tracker and it also explains how this new version differs from the previous version of the tracker that we that we released a few years ago.
There are a couple of features that I'd really like to highlight that our members specifically asked for when we did those listening sessions that I mentioned.
It includes access to a searchable copy of the most recent version of the APPA Safety Manual at no additional cost.
That cost is included in the annual subscription price, and you can access and search the manual on a mobile app.
The tracker also allows utilities to assign and manage their training programs and track employee completion of required training and it provides access to the APPA Safety Smart videos again at no additional cost.
You can complete inspections and job safety briefings in the field, and you can use the mobile app to capture live signatures following the briefs.
It also has a feature to complete and track incident reports and utility specific information and documents such as standards and manuals can also be uploaded to the system and accessed on a mobile app. Again, even if you don't have connectivity on your device.
And finally, it gives leadership tools to track safety trends and incidents at their utilities so they can help identify potential issues that they need to address.
I know I mentioned it a couple of times already, but I would really like to underscore the importance of the mobile app.
It was something that the members really liked during the pilot. One of the members in the pilot noted that they currently fill out paper forms in the field for inspections, what have you.
Then they throw it into their truck and when they get back to the office, they need to remember to bring that piece of paper in and file it or scan it or upload it.
With this tool you can complete the forms in the field with the mobile app. The mobile app will sync with the database when your cell or Wi-Fi connection is reestablished so you don't have to worry about forgetting to file a paper copy or losing the form in between the job site and the office.
Paul Ciampoli
I think that's a great point that you highlighted...the fact that shifting from a paper-based environment to the app is really...[a] key element.
Tori, I wanted to turn to you and give you the chance to detail your role specifically in the development of the eSafety tracker and also talk about how public power utilities are going to benefit from use of the tracker.
Tori Leger
Thank you, Paul.
We were one of the member utilities that helped test the program and it was really fun.
I had an interesting role because I started off as a watcher, which was a person who only...[saw] reports and then I transitioned to an admin user because...through testing the system and seeing how it worked, I realized with the position that I have with LUS dealing with all of the utilities -- because we have water, wastewater and electric operations -- it's really cool that we were able to test it and provide feedback, let ESAMS know what was working really well, what needed some improvements and they were able to customize a lot of things based off of the feedback that we were all providing.
LUS is excited about the fact that they have the app. I know that one of the things our workers in the field kept on hitting on was that it's so simple to use the app.
And it makes their job every day so much easier being able to do it through the phone, taking pictures right on the spot or going back and putting pictures in...I would really have to say that the app is what excited our team the most.
Paul Ciampoli
Pat, you mentioned training in your last response to my question previously, so I wanted to give you the opportunity to go into more depth in terms of the training that’s going to be offered to members with respect to how to make the best use of the eSafety tracker.
Patrick Hart
We put a lot of effort into the training videos for this tracker, so if you go to the eSafety tracker page that I mentioned earlier, you'll find a section just on the training videos.
We've organized the training videos by the different user types in the tracker and there are four user types -- administrators, supervisors, general users and watchers.
As Tori mentioned, she started out as a watcher and then became an administrator on the system, so each user type has different levels of access to the various functions in the tracker based on their roles at the utility.
So the way that we structured this, the training videos, we did one overview video for each of the user types and those videos provide an overview of the new tracker and outline how you can get started and navigate through the multiple features.
Then we have separate training videos on each of the different modules that are within the system. The Safety Manual job safety briefing, how do you assign training, submitting an incident report, inspections, et cetera.
And each of those videos -- they're about 10 minutes or less in length -- so they're pretty easy and they have demos to help you understand how you can walk through each of those modules in the system.
I should also note too that we made the training videos public on our website. They're on that eSafety tracker page.
They're not behind any paywalls, and we wanted utilities to watch those videos, even before they purchased a subscription to get a sense of what the new eSafety tracker could do.
Sort of like a promo and I would encourage folks just to go take a look at those videos and you can see how it's been built, how it's been structured and customized for public power utilities.
Paul Ciampoli
What jumps to my mind is the fact that what's great about those videos is that you can always go back and reference them at any point if you stumble with some specific element of it.
Patrick Hart
Yes and there’s a pretty in-depth manual that's available on the tracker as well...these videos are intended to help get you started and cover all the key points that you need for each of the modules in the tracker.
Paul Ciampoli
Tori, I wanted to wrap up our conversation with a question for you and this kind of overlaps with my prior question in terms of benefits flowing from the tracker.
I want to paint a scenario for you where you're having a conversation with an official from another public power utility considering the use of the eSafety tracker.
What would you tell him or her in terms of the benefits that are going to flow from the tracker?
Tori Leger
So feeding from my last answer, which is exactly that the app -- for the person who's going to be using the program the most every day, checking off things, putting in job safety briefings, it's our field workers.
They are the ones who are going to be using it and they are big fans of the app and the way that it's set up.
Another great thing as a multi-utility company, in my position I do deal with all of the utilities which also comes with a lot of reporting, tracking, we specifically track our job injuries and vehicle accidents, so it'll all be done for me.
Those reports are going to be produced for me. That is taking away hours of work for me, which is amazing.
Another really cool thing is from a promotion standpoint, if we have someone that works in water and moves to wastewater or electric and they want to move around, they're already going to have a sense of how to use the platform because it's used throughout all of the utilities and it's not like you have to learn a new system and then from an admin perspective, we hadn't really talked about it that much, but something really cool that ESAMS is providing is support for the admin, where you have a direct contact with someone, if you have questions while you're setting it up.
Once it's set up and there's something you don't understand, you'll have someone you can reach out to, and then also the general user will have a hotline that they can call where someone will be available during the week to answer any questions.
Paul Ciampoli
Pat and Tori, thanks so much for taking the time today to speak with us about this exciting new product. I think listeners will come away very impressed with the finished product, so thanks again for taking the time.
Additional information about the eSafety tracker, including how to order it, is available on APPA's website at: publicpower.org/appa-esafety-tracker.
Thanks for listening to this episode of Public Power Now, which is produced by Julio Guerrero. I'm Paul Ciampoli and we'll be back next week with more from the world of public power.
