November 14, 2008—At the 15th annual PFM (Premises and Facilities Management magazine) Awards — OCS Cleaning and Environmental Services received the 2008 E-Business Award. The award gives recognition to use of new technology to improve business processes and performance in the FM industry and was given to OCS for its state-of-the-art software developed to give window cleaning team managers and staff instant access to a safer and more efficient way of working.
The OCS system combines wifi with hand-held computers (XDAs) and was developed by a project team drawn from such diverse disciplines as cleaning management, ICT, mobile communications, and health and safety specialists.
The XDA system, which is based on pre-programmed health and safety practices, acts as a continuous prompt and records the fact that a safe and systematic approach is being used. After the initial risk assessment, the system can be easily tailored to accommodate site-specific control measures, including a pre-work safety inspection for each visit. Window cleaning team managers must electronically acknowledge and sign off instruction and review procedures so that if any are by-passed the system actively locks out a task and stops the work bill being issued to the hand-held XDA.
The information bank contains “safety gateways” such as Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) and Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER) test and examination dates and vehicle check confirmation dates. Giving team managers the ability to instantly view the training and certification records of individuals reporting to site for duty, the system also plays a critical role in ensuring staff attending for a specific task are suitably trained or qualified and that their qualifications are up-to-date, notes OCS.
For more information, see the OCS Web site.
