Paperless asbestos site management case study

Background

All Clear Services was established in 2009, and today provides licensed asbestos removal alongside a comprehensive range of environmental services. The company is led by Managing Director Andrew Astley and Contracts Manager Danny Keating, who between them bring well over 30 years of industry experience. All Clear is a member of the Asbestos Removal Contractors Association (ARCA).

Operating as a small to medium-sized business, All Clear has built its reputation on reliable service delivery and a commitment to safe working practices. The company’s leadership team recognised that maintaining these standards while growing the business would require moving beyond traditional paper-based systems.

Challenge

All Clear was operating asbestos-removal projects on an entirely paper-based system. Documentation was printed in the office and provided to supervisors as a site file, with paperwork remaining on site for the duration of each project.

This created a significant visibility gap. Minor issues – whether relating to competence, attendance, equipment or day-to-day site operations – were being recorded in daily diaries, but weren’t always coming to management’s attention until the job had finished. This made it hard for the team to identify training or management needs. Additionally, identifying trends or issues was an admin-intensive task, making it hard for Andrew to develop proactive service improvements.

During a licence review, the Health and Safety Executive identified minor deficiencies in the company’s personal monitoring strategy. While All Clear was conducting plenty of personal monitoring, the information wasn’t being captured and presented in a way that met regulatory expectations. This acted as a catalyst for Andrew to improve All Clear’s systems.

Results

Following the licence review, Andrew spoke with ARCA and learned about its partnership with Assure360. After initially exploring the free exposure portal for ARCA members, he quickly recognised that whilst it solved 4hrTWA calculations, the full system offered far more, opening up entirely new possibilities for site management.

All Clear became a full Assure360 customer, purchased iPads for all site staff, and moved to a predominantly paperless operation. While hard copy method statements and drawings are still sent to site as a fail-safe for areas with poor connectivity, all day-to-day site recording and reporting now happens through the Assure360 Paperless app.

The transformation in visibility has been immediate. Where previously a decontamination check might have been recorded on a paper form at lunchtime – with no certainty about when the work had actually been done – supervisors now complete timestamped checks with photographic evidence. Management can see exactly when each stage of work was completed and verified.

This real-time insight has also changed how managers engage with their projects. Rather than waiting for site visits or phone calls, they can now check on progress at any time – reviewing site diaries, seeing when analysts have completed personal monitoring, and identifying any issues as they arise rather than weeks after the event.

Post-completion processes have been streamlined dramatically. The time previously spent scrolling through paperwork, auditing it and preparing it for archive has been massively reduced. Training needs analysis and other reporting is now far easier to manage.

Finally, supervisors report that because the admin has been so streamlined, they now have more time to actually supervise the job. The system has also reinforced site discipline: staff know there’s an evidence trail, which has strengthened commitment to completing checks correctly and at the right time.

What the client said

The biggest problem we had was that any issues recorded on the daily diaries – just minor bits and pieces – weren’t coming back to our attention until the job had actually finished. It was always at the end of the contract, when we were reviewing the paperwork, that we were getting this information back.

With the paper version, the decontamination check was just a tick box. Now we know that the decontamination unit was set up and checked, and there’s a photograph on the system at nine o’clock in the morning. We’ve got that timed: it’s been done, and there’s a photograph of it in position.

As an owner, as a contracts manager, sometimes after the initial site setup you tend to lose that job for a day or a couple of days while you’re doing other things. With Assure360 you can just click on it and see the site diary, see that they’re stripping now, or the analyst has been there and done a personal – that everything is okay. And it’s reduced our site audit time massively. To scroll through the paperwork and check it and audit it to say yes, this can be archived – the system has made that job so much easier.

All the supervisors have said that Assure360 gives them more time to actually physically monitor the work. I think it’s enlightened the site staff that they’ve got to do everything in the correct way – now they know there’s an evidence trail.

Rick and everybody at Assure360 have been absolutely brilliant with the support they’ve given us to get started, and get trained up. The backup’s been second to none. One or two of the lads who aren’t tech-savvy struggled at the start, but we ran Assure360 alongside our paper system on some trial projects so they could have a bit of practice. The supervisors who took to it straight away were assisting those who were struggling.

I was very reluctant about a technological solution at the start. Danny and I are both in our early sixties, we’re not majorly computer-brilliant. But I can honestly say I think it was one of my best choices recently. I think long-term, Assure360 is going to save us a lot more than we pay for it in time and everything. I would recommend it 100%.

Client name

• Andrew Astley, managing director

 

I’m often responsible for multiple jobs, so it’s important for me to know that things are progressing as planned when I’m not on site. We’ve got great confidence in our team, but we need to show they’re doing everything by the book. With Assure360 I can check the site diary, see the photos, confirm the checks have been done from my desk, or even from another project. It means I can spend more time making sure we’re set up for success, rather than firefighting problems I’m only hearing about after the fact.

The software gives me confidence that the job’s still being done safely and to the standard our clients – and the regulator – expect. For a business our size, that peace of mind is invaluable.

Client name

• Danny Keating, contracts manager

 

Tweet  Share on Facebook  Share on Linkedin