Construction industry workers were among the first to return to the workplace when the Prime Minister announced that infrastructure will play a key role in the country's bounce back from the coronavirus crisis.  

While there are a mandatory set of guidelines in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 on construction sites, there are still opportunities to improve on-site safety. 

Eliminating paper and adopting mobile forms software can help reduce the spread of the virus. 

Contactless, Paperless Working

It’s unknown exactly how long COVID-19 can live on paper, but studies show it can be anywhere between three hours to five days; from construction workers to managers and admin staff, paper forms are a common point of contact within the workflow. 

As paper forms can’t be cleaned, the alternative is to avoid touching paperwork for a maximum of five days until the virus has died off. This precaution may result in delays within the workflow. 

Cloud-based mobile forms software allows for 100% contactless working. Digital forms are distributed and collected by the back-office desktop application, which eliminates paper and close contact between employees. Reducing the number of common touch points throughout the business decreases the risk of spreading the virus through paper processes.

Mobile forms software also helps construction workers to maintain the social distancing guidelines of one meter plus, which is easily broken when physical meetings are required to handover paperwork. 

If your employees rely on a shared tablet to complete mobile forms, then the device can be easily cleaned between each use with water and hand soap. 

COVID-19 Will Accelerate Digital Transformation in Construction

Social distancing measures are having a huge effect on productivity within the construction industry. This is largely due to many jobs requiring staff to work together in close proximity, which isn’t safe in the current climate. Firms must quickly adopt new technologies to put themselves in a position to recover from the impacts of coronavirus.  

Paper processes are just one piece of the puzzle; digitisation may also include: 

• Wearable tech to help workers maintain social distance and aid contact tracing 
• Facial recognition for when workers enter and leave job sites
• Virtual reality headsets for remote site visits
• Machine learning
• Automation
• Artificial intelligence

In terms of digitisation, mobile forms are a small part of a much bigger picture, but they do play a part in increasing workforce productivity. The software helps by:

• Decreasing turnaround times as information can be processed by off-site staff in real-time
• Enabling the accurate collection of valuable data to improve workflow processes
• Boosting job scheduling efficiency

Formulate - Mobile Forms Software

Paperless job sites are key to creating safer and more productive working environments. 

Want to know more about mobile forms software? Visit our blog to learn more advantages of using mobile forms for construction, or contact us at gareth.pritchard@trianglesoftware.co.uk.