Manage occupational health and safety overview

Applies to: Dynamics 365 Customer Voice, Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Guides, Dynamics 365 Human Resources, Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

In this article, we delve into the intricacies of managing occupational health and safety within an organization, with a particular emphasis on Dynamics 365 implementations.

In today's dynamic business landscape, the implementation of occupational health and safety processes is essential for maintaining a safe and productive work environment. With Dynamics 365, organizations can streamline and enhance their safety management processes. The defined processes can cover areas such as the following list:

  • Hazard identification
  • Safety protocol documentation
  • Safety condition analysis
  • Safety audits
  • Staff training
  • Injury or illness reporting
  • Treatment seeking
  • Cost-of-care determination
  • Safety communication

These processes collectively contribute to a safer and healthier workplace. When you use Dynamics 365 with Microsoft 365 products, such as Viva Learning or Viva Engage, you can streamline business processes and improve your overall health and safety metrics.

These processes serve a twofold purpose in any organization. First, they ensure the well-being of employees, reducing the risk of workplace accidents and health-related issues. Second, they help organizations meet legal and regulatory requirements, avoid potential liabilities, and enhance their reputation as responsible corporate citizens. Dynamics 365 implementations facilitate the systematic execution of these processes, providing an efficient and centralized platform for managing safety-related data, incidents, and compliance.

One notable advantage of implementing occupational health and safety processes within Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 is their flexibility. None of these processes are mandatory prerequisites for the system's operation, allowing organizations to tailor their safety management to their specific needs and timelines. These processes can be easily integrated into the system at any stage of its operation or even incrementally added as the organization evolves. This adaptability ensures that companies can respond to changing safety requirements, growth, and new regulations without major disruptions to their operations. This way, Dynamics 365 becomes a valuable tool for long-term safety and compliance management.

Stakeholders

Many people across the organization should contribute to the decision-making process and design of the Manage occupational health and safety area. The following list provides examples of such stakeholders:

  • Safety Officers/Managers: Safety officers or managers are responsible for overseeing the entire safety management system. Their role involves defining and implementing safety policies, protocols, and procedures within the system. They also lead safety audits, hazard assessments, and injury/illness reporting processes. Safety officers ensure that the system aligns with regulatory requirements and company safety objectives.

  • Health and Safety Representatives: These individuals represent the interests and concerns of employees regarding safety. They play a crucial role in identifying workplace hazards, communicating safety issues, and collaborating with safety officers to ensure the system addresses the specific safety needs of the workforce.

  • Training Coordinators: Training coordinators are responsible for designing and delivering safety training programs. They work closely with the system to ensure that employees receive adequate training on safety protocols and procedures. Their role is to keep the workforce informed and prepared to prevent accidents and respond to safety incidents.

  • Safety Auditors: Safety auditors conduct routine assessments of safety conditions and practices within the organization. They use the system to collect and analyze safety data, identify areas of improvement, and make recommendations for enhancing safety measures and compliance. Their role is essential in maintaining a proactive approach to safety.

  • Occupational Health Professionals: Occupational health professionals, including nurses, physicians, or other medical experts, play a critical role in assessing and treating workplace injuries and illnesses. They use the system to report, track, and manage health-related incidents, ensuring that employees receive prompt and appropriate care.

  • Compliance Officers: Compliance officers are responsible for ensuring that the organization adheres to relevant safety regulations and standards. They use the system to monitor and report on compliance, track regulatory changes, and make necessary adjustments to policies and procedures to maintain legal and ethical compliance.

  • Communication Coordinators: Effective communication is key in safety management. Communication coordinators use the system to disseminate safety-related information, incident reports, and safety alerts to employees and other stakeholders. They play a crucial role in maintaining transparency and keeping the workforce informed about safety matters.

  • Safety Data Analysts: Safety data analysts work with the system to collect, analyze, and interpret safety-related data. They identify trends, patterns, and areas of improvement, helping the organization make data-driven decisions to enhance safety processes and prevent incidents.

These stakeholders have specialized roles in the context of occupational health and safety processes and are integral to the successful implementation of a system that supports safety management within an organization. Their collective efforts ensure a safer, healthier work environment and help the organization meet its safety and compliance objectives.

Manage occupational health and safety process flow

The following diagram illustrates the Manage occupational health and safety business process area.

Business process relationships with upstream and downstream processes that are explained in the next paragraphs.

Each solid gray rectangle on the diagram represents an end-to-end business process. The solid blue rectangle represents the business process area. The diagram shows the subprocesses for the business process area. The arrows on the diagram show the flow of the business process in an organization. If a subprocess can lead to more than one other subprocess, the parallel subprocesses are shown as branches.

  1. Start

  2. Hire to retire

  3. Onboard and manage the employee lifecycle

  4. Manage occupational health and safety

    1. Identify workplace hazards

      1. Document safety protocols, policies, and procedures

      2. Analyze safety conditions

      3. Conduct a safety audit

      4. Train on safety protocols

      Each of the subprocesses here includes a parallel connection to Analyze and communicate about safety that isn't shown on the diagram.

    2. Report an injury or illness

      1. Seek treatment for an injury or illness

      2. Determine the cost of care for injury or illness

      A parallel branch connects to Record to report, which connects to Record financial transactions and has a connection to End.

    3. Analyze and communicate about safety

  5. End

Manage occupational health and safety benefits

There are many key benefits that can be used to monitor and measure the success of implementing technology to support the Manage occupational health and safety business process area. The following sections outline the key benefits that an organization might monitor and measure for Manage occupational health and safety.

Improve incident reporting and response time

Dynamics 365 allows organizations to streamline incident reporting by providing an accessible platform for employees to report safety concerns, accidents, or near misses. With options to create mobile experiences using Power Apps, accessibility, and automated workflows using Power Automate, incidents can be reported and escalated efficiently. You can use Dynamics 365's Alert features or Power Automate flows to ensure that incidents receive immediate attention, decreasing response time. You can monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to track and optimize response efficiency when you use Azure Synapse and Power BI to build reports on this data. Common KPIs include mean time to respond (MTTR) and mean time to resolve (MTTR).

Enhanced compliance monitoring and reporting

With Dynamics 365 Human Resources, organizations can maintain an up-to-date database of safety incidents and reported cases of safety issue or injury and illness in the workplace. Organizations can use the data to report and analyze the data to help ensure that they meet regulatory requirements. The system's reporting capabilities provide detailed insights into compliance status, making it easier to identify and address noncompliance issues. KPIs such as compliance rate and the number of regulatory citations can be tracked to demonstrate adherence to safety standards. Additionally, when you use case management together with the Audit workbench you can conduct internal safety audits and reviews of past or current cases.

Optimize training and skills development

With Dynamics 365 Human Resources, organizations can create and manage comprehensive training programs tailored to employee roles and specific safety requirements. The system tracks employee training records, certifications, and skill levels, ensuring that staff are adequately prepared. When you use Dynamics 365 Human Resources with Viva Learning, you can curate and deliver content to your users in apps they already use such as Microsoft Teams. Users can then integrate the course data back into Dynamics 365 seamlessly. KPIs like training completion rates and employee competence assessments can be monitored to gauge the effectiveness of training initiatives and identify areas for improvement.

Minimize injury and illness costs

If organizations use Dynamics 365 Human Resources to track and manage workplace injuries and illnesses, they can reduce costs associated with treatment and worker compensation. The system facilitates prompt injury reporting, ensures swift medical attention, and tracks the cost of care. When you analyze this data with Power BI, KPIs like the average cost per injury/illness and the total cost of treatment can be monitored to assess cost-saving initiatives and prevention strategies.

Enhance safety communication and awareness

Dynamics 365 Human Resources when used with Power Platform can serve as a centralized platform for safety communication, disseminating safety alerts, policies, and procedures. Real-time notifications and document sharing features ensure that employees stay informed through Microsoft Teams or Microsoft Outlook. When you use Dynamics 365 Human Resources with Power BI, and Microsoft Forms, you can use KPIs such as safety awareness surveys and the frequency of safety-related communications to gauge the effectiveness of safety communication efforts. When you use Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, you can track details such as the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for each product, material handling details, and other important information. When you use the Production control module with Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, you can also easily integrate Dynamics 365 Guides as an extra training tool for use in the production floor. Additionally, you can use Dynamics 365 Remote Assist with Asset Management or Dynamics 365 Field Service as a tool to help ensure safety in the field.

Next steps

If you would like to implement Dynamics 365 solutions to assist with your Manage occupational health and safety business processes, you can use the following resources and steps to learn more. (Links are added later, when the articles are ready.)

  1. Plan and recruit your workforce

  2. Onboard and manage the employee lifecycle

  3. Manage occupational health and safety (the article that you're currently reading)

  4. Manage employee performance and growth

  5. Manage employee time and attendance

  6. Manage travel and expenses

  7. Manage employee benefits and compensation

You can use the following resources to learn more about the Manage occupational health and safety process in Dynamics 365.

Contributors

This article is maintained by Microsoft. It was originally written by the following contributors.

Principal author: