The Hazards tool is part of vWork's Health & Safety feature. Health & Safety is an optional feature in vWork. If you would like to find out more about it or add it to your account, please email support@vworkapp.com. One of our team will be in touch to talk with you about your requirements.

What are Hazards in vWork?

Hazards are any element related to a job that adds a physical and financial risk to workers, other people, or property. Examples of Hazards include unstable ground, fire, moving equipment or materials at height, working with chemicals, working at height, powerlines and other electrical hazards, gas pipes, and so on.

Hazards can be added to a job:

By the dispatcher, before the job is published to the mobile app - these Hazards show on the mobile app when the job is opened.
On the job through the mobile app. These are added as they are identified on the job.
Via the API.

Hazards can also be inherited by a job from templates or assets.

How are hazards managed using the mobile app?

If you are using the mobile app you can do the following things to manage hazards on a job:

Record the risk level associated with a hazard and the control measures taken to manage the risks to create a Residual Risk.
Record that you acknowledge hazards related to a job. You must do this before you can move to the next step of the job in the mobile app.
Add new hazards to the job as you identify them.
Capture signatures from key people working on a job to confirm and record that those people agree to the Hazard Declaration.

View hazards

When a job has known hazards these must be reviewed before completing a specified step on the job. You view hazards and manage them through the H&S screen for the job.

There are two options to open the H&S screen from in the job on an IOS mobile app:

Tap the Step that hazards are saved against, to show a pop-up window notifying you that the step requires a Hazard Acknowledgment. Click Show Me to open the H&S Screen.
Alternatively, tap the More menu:

Then tap H&S to open the H&S screen and view hazards saved with the job.

Add a hazard

If you identify a new hazard while on the job you can add it to the job from the H&S screen.

To add a new hazard:

Tap to open the Select a Hazard screen.
Tap to select a hazard from the list or select Custom Hazard if the hazard you want is not in the list. This opens the information saved for the hazard. If you select Custom Hazard, you will need to enter all the hazard details from scratch.
Complete the details for the hazard:
- Description - if the Hazard doesn’t have a description, tap in the Description field then type a description over the words Custom Hazard to identify it.
- Initial Risk - tap and select a risk level. This is the risk created by the hazard before control measures are used to reduce the risk. Click Done to view the information for the hazard, or Next to view the next field for the hazard.
- Control Type - tap to select the control type that will be used to reduce the risk created by the hazard.
- Controls required - tap and enter specifics about the controls that will be used to reduce the risk.
- Person responsible - tap and enter the name of the person who is responsible for managing the risk created by the hazard.
- Residual Risk - tap to select a risk level. This is the risk level that remains after control measures are used to manage the risk created by the hazard.
When all fields for the risk are filled in tap Save.

Note:

When you create a Custom Hazard you don’t need to complete all details when you first create the hazard although you must give the hazard a name. (But you will need to complete all the details before you can acknowledge the hazards on the job.)
If you add a new hazard after you have completed the Hazard Acknowledgment you must complete the Hazard Acknowledgment again before you can continue completing steps on the job.

The Hazard Acknowledgment and the Hazard Declaration

The Hazard Acknowledgment and Hazard Declaration are separate things. You may need to capture signatures for the Hazard Declaration before you can complete the Hazard Acknowledgment.

This is an example of what the Hazard Declaration and Hazard Acknowledgment look like in the IOS mobile app.

Hazard Acknowledgment

When there are Hazards on a job you must acknowledge these by completing a Hazard Acknowledgment.

The Hazard Acknowledgment confirms you have completed a hazard review. When you perform a hazard review you make sure that all fields for every hazard are completed.
The Hazard Acknowledgement is not the same as the Hazard Declaration that you will also see on the H&S screen. You may also need to capture signatures for the Hazard Declaration in order to complete the Hazard Acknowledgment.
You, as the person responsible for completing the job, must complete the Hazard Acknowledgment even when there is no requirement for you or others to sign the Hazard Declaration. You will always need to complete a Hazard Acknowledgement to move to the next step on the job.

How to complete the Hazard Acknowledgement

If there are incomplete fields for any hazard saved with the job you will see the hazard review prompt on the H&S screen.

This tells you that you need to look at the fields for each hazard and fill in any details that are not complete.

To complete the Hazard Acknowledgement:

In the H&S screen look at the Hazards to identify those that don’t have all fields completed. You can see when not all fields are completed as this is shown on the Hazard in Red in the format X/5 REQ. where X is the number of fields completed and 5 is the number of fields required.
Tap the first Hazard with incomplete fields to open it for editing.
In this example 4 of the 5 fields are completed for the hazard.
Complete the information required in the fields then tap Done.
Fields that need to be completed are shown with a red bar. In this example, the Residual Risk field needs to be completed.
Note: Descriptions for each field are given in the topic Add a Hazard above.
If there is more than one hazard, tap the next hazard on the H&S screen to complete the hazard review for that hazard. Repeat for every hazard that has incomplete fields.
If required, capture Declaration Signatures. You can read more about these under the heading Hazard Declaration and Declaration Signatures below.
When all fields for all hazards are complete, and you have captured all required Declaration Signatures, you will see the Hazard Acknowledgment toggle switch on the H&S screen. This shows in place of the hazard review prompt. Tap this to toggle the switch to on and confirm you have completed the Hazard Acknowledgment.

Once the Hazard Acknowledgment is complete you can move to the next step in the job.

Hazard Declaration and Hazard Declaration Signatures

The Hazard Declaration field always shows on the H&S screen. The Hazard Declaration includes a statement about the responsibility key people take for managing the risks from hazards that are identified for the job. Your vWork Administrator determines how the Hazard Declaration is used and what it says.

The Hazard Declaration can be used together with Declaration Signatures. These are signatures that you capture in the app to confirm key people involved with the job have read and agreed to the Hazard Declaration.
Declaration Signatures can be required or optional. When they are required you won’t be able to complete the Hazard Acknowledgment until you have captured the required Declaration signatures in the app.
You can capture additional Declaration Signatures through the app. These save as optional signatures with the job.
By completing the Hazard Acknowledgment you may also be agreeing to the Hazard Declaration. This depends on what is included in the Hazard Declaration and if Declaration Signatures are also required.
The Hazard Declaration field may be blank if your organization does not need a Hazard Declaration as part of its Hazard Management processes.

How to capture Declaration Signatures

If Declaration Signatures are saved with a job and they are required, you must capture these before you can complete the Hazard Acknowledgement.

Required Declaration Signatures are shown in a red bar on the H&S page. Optional Declaration Signatures are shown in a white bar.

To capture a Declaration Signature:

Tap the bar (red or white) for the Declaration Signature.
This opens the screen where you can add a name (if not already provided) and capture the signature.
Tap the Name field and enter the name of the signatory (if this is not already completed).
Ask the signatory to sign the screen in the square provided.

How to edit a Declaration Signature

Sometimes the person named as the signatory is not available and another person takes the responsibility for managing the risks of a hazard. In this instance, you may need to edit the name for a Declaration Signature.

To edit the name:

Tap the bar (red or white) for the Declaration Signature. This opens the signing screen.
Tap the original signatories name and use the backspace key on your keyboard to clear the name.
Enter the replacement name for the new signatory.
Have the signatory sign their name in the square provided.
Click Done to save the update name with the signature.

How to add a new Declaration Signature

If you want to add a new Declaration Signature you can from the Hazard Declaration area on the H&S screen. The signature is saved with the job as an optional Declaration Signature.

To add a new Declaration Signature:

Tap the Add New Signature button. This opens the signing screen.
Tap the Signed by field and enter the name of the signatory.
Ask the signatory to sign the screen in the square provided.
When the signature is captured on the screen tap Done to save it with the job.

Health & Safety: managing hazards on the iOS mobile app