How Hollis Global are carrying out onsite Risk Assessments and completing Accident/Incident reports

I'm joined by Ana from Hollis Global. Hello Ana.

Hi. So can you tell us a little bit about you and your company?

I am the senior compliance coordinator within Hollis. Hollis are a real estate company based in the UK and Europe. At the minute we have around 500 staff members. We have sort of two sides of our operation. We have operation staff that are based in our offices and then we have a fee-earning side that goes out to multiple different sites and works with clients multiple times a day, looking at all different types of properties from offices, residentials to warehouses and docks and environmental. We have lots of different services. Um, and we didn't actually have a system in for health and safety or compliance. And we found, even though we had internal systems, they just weren't really working.

Okay, interesting. Thank you. Yeah, just following on from that, what sort of challenges were you facing before you started using Q-Hub?

The main one we looked at and why we sort of went with Q-Hub was around risk assessments. So we expect our fee-earners to complete a site risk assessment for each site they're visiting. And our completion rates were quite low. And we didn't have a way to sort of manage the risk assessment, see how many people are completing or not completing. And from feedback that was gathered, it was mainly because it was hard to complete a risk assessment on the sort of in-house app we had. They couldn't use it on their phones. And also it was a time issue with those. So, looking at how Q-Hub worked, we thought it would be really good to use it.

Perfect. Yeah, that's definitely something that we hear quite often, and yeah, I'm glad that you found that Q-Hub has helped you overcome those particular challenges. Um, so if you don't mind, I can see you've got your dashboard out there. Could you just give us a rough overview of what you use Q-Hub for?

Yes. Currently we use Q-Hub for reporting accidents or incidents. So anyone within our company can now access the report through their desktop or mobile. And also, like I said, our site risk assessments. And it's really easy. They can literally just click in to complete an assessment, state if there's been a project, when it is, who's going, and then go through the risk assessment, which has been really useful. And the same with an incident report as well. They can literally just go straight in and they've got all the information. And using things like dropdowns and options, it's made it a lot quicker to get through.

Fantastic. So it's a good way of bringing it all together as well. And, you know, everyone's got access to it and they're able to use it from their phone and things. So yeah, fantastic. Um, what would you say is the biggest thing that Q-Hub has helped you with?

I would say our compliance, especially with risk assessments at the minute. And also it's really opened our eyes to what else could we put on there. So we're now looking at different areas within the business where we may lack compliance or what isn't easy process for people to complete. That would say then put down the culture, because they feel like health and safety is a boring task, whereas putting it on something like this, we're finding a sort of encouraging the culture. And also for management, we have the KPIs, so it's helped really so managers can go in at a click of a button and see how their teams are doing.

Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, and I hear what you're saying about the workplace culture. The easier we can make something for people, then the more likely they are to do it as well. Do you have any tips for somebody who is at the start of their journey with Q-Hub? They're looking to sort of onboard themselves on there. What would you suggest for them?

Um, I think for any new people wanting to use Q-Hub, I would say definitely have a look at your whole processes as a whole, because with Q-Hub it's really good at linking different things. So where someone might complete one thing, you can really pull it through to use for other areas. So it's definitely like looking at all your processes and speaking with Q-Hub, because they came up with some really good ideas. Where we thought, oh, let's do it this way, but they thought, actually, there might be this way that works better. And a lot of things did happen. So I think what's a really good idea is to work out what you want as your outcome and what the benefits are and what you want people to complete. As that really helped focus. And then also having just a really good idea of what you need it to do and what information you want in there.

Fab. Yeah, so having it clear in your mind what you need from the system, you know, speak to the team, because often, as you say, we can come up with suggestions. Or if you really don't have a clue, you want us to really input, you know, sort of what we think is best on building things onto the platform. Also, within the resources, we found it really useful that some of our forms, like our DSE, we looked at your resources and where there were example documents. We were able to think, oh, that does apply to our work, or that doesn't. So we were able to introduce new things that way as well, which was really helpful.

Yeah, and we're adding to the resources all the time as well. And yeah, as you say, some of them are applicable and, you know, they're ready to plug and play. You can use them straight off. Or a lot of them can be, well, they can all be customized as well. So it's a good starting point for people who are looking for ideas on how to use the platform. Um, do you, so how have you personally, so thinking about a bit of feedback from yourselves and from other staff members, how have you personally found the platform?

We found it really, really good. Um, we have, I can actually got a feedback form where we were collecting some feedback from our staff members. So with the feedback we got, we got 40 responses, which was quite good. And it's actually a lot higher number of responses than when we've asked for feedback around anything health and safety before. So that was good. Um, and we sort of done it on a star rating system. And um, a lot of people said the logging in to the desktop and mobile app was really good. Um, with having such a large company, we were wondering how do we log in? Because I know that there are multiple ways and it's got the single sign-on. And we were looking at how can we do that best. So at the minute, what we do is we have a member of... when a new joiner starts, we sign them up on the system and then they have to go in, create their password, and then click to link to their single sign-on. Um, so it's quite interesting because we weren't sure how many people we would actually be getting to do that, because it's an instruction that... what is the likelihood sometimes of people doing it? But the levels have been quite high so far. Um, majority found the training material that Ethan and ourselves put together, which was good. Um, only the minority haven't used it so far. And that's because, like I said, we have the two sides of our company: operations and fee-earners. And only fee-earners complete the site risk assessment. So unless you haven't, unless you've had an accident and had to report it, the operations side wouldn't have had to use it yet.

Okay, so if it's a no, it's fine for now.

Yeah, that's a good thing.

Yeah. Um, regarding navigation as well, we've had all level fours and fives. Um, the navigation of the mobile application, we've had quite a high number. And then regarding just feedback, a lot of it has been that it's easy to use, easy to navigate, it's good, great that there's a mobile application, it's a simple system, it can update dynamically, it's user-friendly. So they're really good. And then a lot of the any issues that we've had, it's regarding what more of the content that we've put in rather than how it is using it. Um, so I think, and for it's our first release, our first one, I think, because of the updating tool, it's really easy then to make these changes that we've got the feedback for regarding the content or how things in a form are laid out. Some people might prefer dropdown than typing. And that's what is really good about Q-Hub. It gives you them options.

Mhm.

Um, and then with the risk assessment, these were more, um, we built it to be more site-specific. So we got good feedback on those, um, and the content. And then um, we asked what would make people more likely to use the app and what improvements [would help]. And having it here is navigation is seamless, saves time. So we've got really good response so far. And um, we've linked, working with your team, we've linked our internal system with Q-Hub, which was really great. Um, because it saves then how we are at the minute as well. It's really good to like link both sides.

Fantastic. Um, so how would you describe the customer service?

Yes. I it's good. Um, at the beginning we had quite a few, um, people um, coming back with feedback. It's now died down. It was more that um, it was questions that we had the answer to already, which was good. And everyone sort of knows about the um, the support button, which I think is a really good feature.

Great. Yeah, and how then the admins can see that as well and see where we are at. Um, what we encouraged our staff to do firsthand was to report to my team. Um, and this was because, like I said, a lot of the questions they were asking, it's there, it were things that are there. Um, and it was just they, we just needed to show them. So um, it kind of saved it going to your team. The same questions keep on going to you. So we did a little FAQ page as well for everyone. So that sort of helped um, with the similar questions when we realized. Um, but the speed of response has been really well. Um, and yeah, I quite like the format of the support page. We found that through the development. And after we found that, if we've asked things or if things are, how we work is a bit different, they have been, um, you guys have been able to customize and things like that and worked with us on that. And if we've put in a query to support and there hasn't the answer is not known straight away, we've always had a response letting us know where you guys are at with it.

Yeah, yeah, just giving you that update.

Yeah. Is there anything else that you'd like to share about your experience?

No, I think it's been really positive. Um, my company, when we were setting it up, um, we had quite a quick turnaround, uh, which did put a lot of pressure on us and yourselves. Um, and it worked. Even though there was quite a lot of things and we asked it to sort of ask for some new things as well that Q-Hub didn't have. Um, a lot of the things were done in a really good timeframe. Um, and we were constantly updated, which was really, really good.

Brilliant. Wow. I think that's it. Okay, Ana, thank you so much.

Yeah, I appreciate your time today.

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