Three Applications Every Construction Professional Needs on their Phone

In almost all of my on-line and in-person classes, I talk about the fact that safety, quality, and productivity are inextricably linked. You cannot neglect one of these elements without having a negative impact on the others. With this in mind, safety becomes the responsibility of all construction professionals, not just the safety managers.

In today’s world where almost everyone has a smart phone with them at all times, it would be a mistake to not use the phone’s capabilities to improve our job sites. In fact many people have access to enterprise level applications through their company, but there are also many very good applications out there that you can find and install on your own. With May being a month of several different safety stand down weeks and other activities meant to bring attention to working safe, I thought I would highlight three of these applications that I think every construction professional should have on their phone. All three of these apps are high quality, ad-free apps that have been developed by NIOSH (a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States) and are available for free from your phone’s app store. All three also appear to be available worldwide, although some of the features may be limited outside of the U.S., and I will point those out in the descriptions below.

1. NIOSH-OSHA Heat Safety App

Summer is here and so is the heat. Heat related illnesses and injuries at construction sites are a real issue in many areas around the world. A lack of understanding of the hazard, appropriate first aid, and tools to objectively assess the hazard all lead to workers being needlessly exposed and subject to sometimes life-threatening conditions in the construction industry. This application was developed to address all of these issues and to give everyone an easy to use tool that sits right on your phone and is ready to use any time. Its available for both Android and iOS in their app stores.

In my course on LinkedIn Learning called Occupational Safety and Health: Working in the Heat, I discuss how to develop an objective program for determining heat hazard categories throughout a work day, and what steps and precautions should be taken as you move from one hazard category to another. While the use of the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) is the most accurate method of doing this, that’s an instrument that is often not typically available to most people, so this application uses modified heat index values to accomplish the same thing using an easy to use smartphone app. You can see this demonstrated in the following video from my course.

In the U.S., the application is location enabled and will pull in values for temperature and humidity from the National Weather Service based on your GPS location or an inputted zip code. This will allow you to not only get current information, but you can step through predicted hour by hour information to see how the day will progress so you can take appropriate actions to protect yourself or others. I have had people outside the U.S. try out the application and it still appears to work quite well, but it requires you to manually input ambient temperature and humidity manually.

Besides determining the hazard category at your site and telling you the recommended precautions, the application also includes:

• Signs and symptoms of heat related illnesses
• Recommended precautions
• First aid recommendations depending on symptoms (remember that heat stroke is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical attention)

You can learn more about the application and find links to download it at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress/heatapp.html, or visit the Google Play Store or Apple App Store and search for OSHA NIOSH Heat Safety Tool by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ?

2. NIOSH Ladder Safety App

Available for both Android and iOS, this was NIOSH’s first mobile application, and its available in both English and Spanish. Its designed to improve extension and step ladder safety — a concern for those working in construction or any other task that requires ladder use.

According to the CDC, In the United States, more than 500,000 people per year are treated, and more than 300 people die from ladder-related injuries.

The app provides user-friendly guides and interactive tools to prevent major causes of falls, including:

• Angle Measuring Tool — Uses visual, sound, and vibration signals to make it easier for users to set an extension ladder at the proper angle (approximately 75 degrees) and to check the verticality of extension and step ladders
• Selection Tool — Provides a procedure to select the minimum required ladder duty rating corresponding to user characteristics and task
• Inspection Tool — Includes a comprehensive checklist for ladder mechanical inspection
• Proper Use Tool — Presents a set of rules for safe ladder use in a user-friendly format
• Accessories Tool — Describes a number of available extension ladder safety accessories

Information, FAQ’s, and user guides are available on the NIOSH web site at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/falls/mobileapp.html, or you can search for Ladder Safety by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

3. NIOSH Sound App

Due to hardware issues, this app is only available for iOS devices. This is an extremely high-quality sound level app developed by experienced acoustics engineers and hearing loss experts. NIOSH has tested and validated (accuracy ± 2 dBA) according to standards in a reverberant chamber at the NIOSH acoustics lab, and the application meets Type 2 requirements of IEC 61672:3 SLM standard when used with an external calibrated microphone. Additional features include:

• Provides the most relevant metrics found in professional sound instruments today. Averages such as LAeq and TWA, Max and Peak Levels, Noise Dose and Projected Dose according to NIOSH and OSHA standards, and all three major weighting networks (A, C, and Z)
• Capability to calibrate either internal or external microphone
• Reporting and Sharing data
• Up-to-date informational screens on what noises are considered hazardous, how to conduct a noise measurement, how to properly select a hearing protector, and guidelines for preventing hearing loss

To make it even more impressive, there is technical support available directly from NIOSH hearing experts. Although its unfortunate that there is not an Android version of this application, if you have an iPhone and take the time to learn how to use this app, you will have one of the most sophisticated noise hazard assessment tools available to you in the palm of your hand, for free.

Find out more and link to app store at https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise/app.html, or search for NIOSH SLM in the Apple App Store.?

Your Thoughts...

What personal applications do you use in the field to improve safety, quality, and productivity? Do you have any thoughts on the use of personal mobile devices in the construction industry? If so, please share them in the comments section.

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