Global HSE Solutions harnesses power of PlanRadar fire safety software

Itself a leading digital construction, real estate and facilities management platform, PlanRadar has announced that its software will underpin the delivery of more efficient, detailed and accessible fire safety information.

The solution will also help Global HSE Solutions’ clients to navigate what is now an ever-changing legislative landscape, as evidenced by the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2023 (which commenced on 23 January. The PlanRadar software represents a complete approach for delivering surveys and inspection results and will be rolled out across the Global Technical Services division’s entire surveying and inspections team.

Commenting on the new partnership, PlanRadar’s co-CEO Ibrahim Imam observed: “Global HSE Solutions and its Global Technical Services division have a well-established reputation for delivering exceptional results in a highly niche, specialised and increasingly important field.”

Imam continued: “Given the stringent requirements around fire safety, there’s absolutely no margin for error. A missed record or any lack of clarity in inspection reports could have huge ramifications. That’s why we’ve invested in making our digital tools fit-for-purpose to deliver accurate, compliant and easy-to-understand data collation and fire reporting. The software is specifically for fire professionals and ensures that the ‘golden thread of information’ principles are being followed throughout for greater fire safety compliance.”

In addition, Imam affirmed: “Global HSE Solutions’ confidence in our offering is a massive endorsement for PlanRadar’s relevance and efficacy. We look forward to collaborating with the company in order to deliver safe and secure commercial and residential environments going forward.”

Efficient secret

Global HSE Solutions and its Global Technical Services division first became aware of PlanRadar’s digital solutions last year, at which point they immediately saw the potential for the platform to address an ongoing pain point within the business (specifically, the efficient creation and user-friendly presentation of fire surveys and inspection results).

Further, they realised the software could also tackle another persistent challenge faced by the company: recruiting enough highly-trained professionals to fill vacant job roles. They saw PlanRadar’s suite of services as a way of streamlining the amount of resource existing staff spent on this important, but time-consuming activity.

Ross O’Loughlin, head of the Global Technical Services division at HSE Global Solutions, explained: “My main concern was how we could speed up our surveys without losing the value within them. I wanted to improve the working life of my staff. Reporting, writing and collating information around a survey has always been a somewhat laborious task. If we can consolidate that in any way, it then allows us to focus our energies on the delivery of expertise.”

Compliance requirements

The team members at the Global Technical Services division were particularly impressed by PlanRadar’s ability to record video and integrate Building Information Modelling data, which can be used to support the division’s compliance requirements around the Building Safety Act and increased expectations for data collection in line with the aforementioned ‘golden thread of information’.

Following initial discussions between the parties, the PlanRadar platform was tested in a real-world environment to see how the software performed on a project from start to finish. The test was based at a university in the North of England where members of the HSE Global Solutions surveying team were conducting a fire damper inspection survey. With thousands of dampers to inspect, it was a daunting task requiring meticulous record-keeping.

The team members’ feedback was unanimously positive, with users highlighting how the PlanRadar platform significantly sped up reporting thanks to its ease of use, in turn vindicating the decision to trial the solution.

Better outcomes

Following the test, Global HSE Solutions and its Global Technical Services division decided to adopt PlanRadar’s platform, with the intention of rolling it out across all inspection and surveying teams, in turn providing them with an easy way in which to record and report key information.

A previously arduous task has been made effortless, with information delivered in real-time as staff walk through the building and record voice notes rather than having to stop and make notes on paper or complete lengthy follow-up work when returning to the office.

The platform’s potential goes even further. “With Global Technical Services division users already being onboarded, we’re exploring how PlanRadar could be used across other parts of the company,” said Ross O’Loughlin. “From a business perspective, uploading as many documents, photographs or JPEG images as possible at no extra cost is a massive win in comparison to competitors in this space. It’s an incredibly useful tool.”

To date, PlanRadar has been brought on board to service over 20 Global Technical Services division projects. There’s a stated intention to use the software as the standard reporting tool across the entire portfolio over the course of 2023.

*Further information on Global HSE Solutions is available online at www.globalhsegroup.com

**Additional detail concerning PlanRadar is accessible online at www.planradar.com