OVERVIEW: BitRip® and our Smart Inspection Tags are a flexible solution to help improve McClendon Enterprises inspection tracking. From AEDs to Air Monitors, heavy equipment, PPE and even safety data sheets, BitRip is extremely easy to set up and use for safety compliance. Just tag the equipment with an inspection tag, scan it with the free app, upload data to it, and from that point forward, that data is just a quick scan away.
McLendon Enterprises, Inc., a heavy civil engineering construction company based in Vidalia, GA, services a 120-air-mile radius with a focus on department of transportation-oriented projects. Founded over four decades ago, the company has two asphalt plants, an aggregate yard that‘s connected to railroad service, eight pipe crews, paving crews, and a host of others.
The company’s Safety and Health Director, Brent W. Holcombe, is tasked with keeping McLendon’s 230- plus employees safe. Roughly 70% of the company’s work is road projects, which brings with it many challenges in meeting Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), and state and federal Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements.
McLendon is a member of the Associated General Contractors of Georgia, Inc. (AGCGA), and one day Holcombe was at an AGCGA event when a friend introduced him to Catherine Chapman, co-founder of the BitRip® app.
“I had been looking for a way to store safety training in the pocket of the worker so they don‘t have a folder full of training cards and certificates. And just through asking Catherine a few questions, I began to realize through this BitRip app, this process can be transformed,” he recalled.
ONTO SOMETHING BIG
Holcombe quickly understood that he was onto something big that could change the way the company tracked its safety, equipment, and maintenance inspections as well as inventory and employee information. Chapman explained that BitRip seamlessly tracks any type of physical asset using scannable codes that act like smart inspection tags, and each code allows users to store massive amounts of data and track every scanned location, unlocking field-level visibility.
BitRip co-founder Nick Dimitruk initially conceived this solution, which features the free mobile app version of BitRip, a Pro Plan version, and the BR Code™ Scannable Labels, in field combat operations more than a decade ago, while serving in the Middle East as a U.S. Marine.
“We were in dirty, rapidly changing, dangerous places and using expensive, mission-critical gear. We realized that people in other industries had the same headaches, stress, and urgency to get the mission done quickly and effectively, so we invented this technology,” Dimitruk said.
That’s the same environment in which McLendon operates daily, and Holcombe explained that safety inspections and equipment operator certifications on jobsites represent a very valuable chunk of productivity. He said that they are frequently lost, damaged, or unavailable when requested by OSHA or other inspectors. Holcombe created laminated business card-sized cards that list all of an employee’s trainings, but even that wasn’t cutting it for safety compliance, as each year he had to create a new card and updating them was also time-consuming.
The ability to attach documents such as PDFs, photos, text and voice notes, and videos, within a Bit “really got my wheels turning,” Holcombe said.
(Definition: A Bit is an asset's digital folder that is linked to the smart inspection tag. When someone scans the inspection tag with the free BitRip app, they can access and edit the digital folder)
SO MANY USES BEYOND SAFETY COMPLIANCE
The vast array of potential uses for BitRip and the Smart Inspection Tags forced him to slowly roll the solution out and to create an overarching plan for them. He started with using it for the inspection of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and documenting air monitors for confined spaces and expects to use it for safety data sheets soon.
“With BitRip, I can constantly update their training certificates in the app. So, if OSHA or DOT comes on my jobsite, and says, ‘Hey, where‘s your training card?’ -there‘s no more: ‘Well, I lost it....’
"It‘s on their phone now. They‘ve got it right there,” Holcombe said
He envisions a future where each McLendon department has its own Bit containing all safety and training certifications, maintenance records, employee information, and other important data.
“It‘s going to get rid of a lot of paperwork and we‘re going to save money there, and we’ll have timestamps and paper trails in a limitless cloud, so that right there, is awesome,” Holcombe said. The ability to have a library that McLendon staff can access and search by date, category type, etc., and look back at documentation “is really going to help,” he added.
Holcombe and his team have affixed BR Code™ Labels on nearly 300 pieces of heavy equipment, on personal protective equipment (PPE), and many other assets, and have been impressed with them. “They’re weatherproof. They‘re pretty tough, man. But the thing about them, if one does get damaged, it‘s easy to replace it. Very easy,” Holcombe said.
Besides safety compliance, they’re also using the solution for inventory management on a huge DOT project, attaching photos of inventory and text and voice notes to each Bit to ensure that staff has the proper materials and equipment. In this application, Holcombe said he appreciates the fact that whenever a staff member scans a BR Code™ label, the GPS location is revealed.
FORMS AND THE FUTURE
The BitRip team is creating a custom observation form for McLendon that would allow employees who are undergoing training to list every piece of heavy equipment or truck that they drive or operate. This would allow company safety officers or superintendents to enter an equipment number or employee name and easily access pertinent data.
He also plans to store a PDF document including the company’s panel of physicians in each employee’s Bit. While this might sound like a small detail, he said that being able to manage that list and provide each employee access at their fingertips is important.
“If the rain washes away a piece of paper that we‘ve had for three months, I‘m still actually compliant because the guy’s got it in his pocket on an app,” he said. “A willful OSHA violation now is 161,000 or something dollars. That could be not having a document that lists their panel of physicians on the board when you need it,” Holcombe said, adding that leveraging this solution for safety data sheets will also be a massive time and money saver.
USING IT LIKE A PRO
The BitRip Pro Plan is already a vital part of the success Holcombe has achieved thus far and he said its importance will continue. As he builds out an extensive application of BitRip and BR Codes, Holcombe’s enthusiasm for the solutions it will provide is palpable.
“It‘s kind of fun being with a company that‘s thinking outside of the box. And a mentor of mine told me that safety is not a trade secret. It‘s about saving human life and it‘s information worth sharing. That stuck with me,” he said, adding that it is even in his email signature. Holcombe is particularly eager to use this solution to “make the safety department more omnipresent,” and is willing to share these successes with others. “I‘m excited about it. I can‘t wait,” he said
Did you know you can test out the whole BitRip Equipment Tracking System for just $12.50? It's simple - just follow the steps below.
Download the Free Mobile App here (available on iPhone and Android)
2. Order 5 Sample BR Code™ Scannable Labels for just $12.50
3. Try out our BitRip Pro Equipment Tracking Software (30 Day Free Trial, No Credit Card Required)
4. Check out our Bite Size training videos to get you started - BitRip Mobile and BitRip Pro
5. We'll even set up ALL your equipment for you with our VALET service - included with BitRip Pro at no extra charge. Just schedule a time with one of the BitRip team members to take advantage of this limited time offer!
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