“For the provincial sector, Yaacomm developed the app “Gezond en veilig werken” (Healthy and Safe Working’). The app provides tailored information on health and safety topics. With the handy tips and videos, employees can get started straight away.”
Marga Waldekker, program manager at the AO Fund for Provinces, talks about the creation and use of the app.
Health and Safety Information always and everywhere at hand via an app
“So far, the health and safety catalogue has only been available as a website. For people working in an office, a website is quite accessible, but part of the sector also works outdoors, such as people on the road, people in and along the water, inspectors, etc. They do not always have access to a laptop. To make access as easy as possible and to ensure that you always have access to health and safety information wherever you are, we thought of an app.”
What is the most suitable communication tool for conveying information? The AO Fund makes conscious choices in this.
“When deciding which medium to use to offer information, it is a consideration of what you want at the moment but also what you can do with it in the future. The app provides a low-threshold way for people in the field to quickly look up information, but it also offers us further opportunities to keep employees informed.
Information on the website, no matter how fun and responsive, becomes a long story on your phone. Information is presented very differently in an app. An app has the advantage that you have quick access to concise and clear information, which is available wherever you are. An app also offers other handy features such as notifications and filtering options, so that the information important to you is immediately visible. Everyone has a phone with them, so the call to action is more direct. Information disappears more quickly into the background on a website. We also see that organisations set the app as a default app on work phones.”
Digitally accessible information
For the AO Fund for Provinces, digital accessibility of products is an important theme. Yaacomm always takes into account the requirements for digital accessibility when developing apps.
Marga Waldekker says about this: “It is important to make everything you do digitally accessible and to be mindful of it. The app directly responds to this, and that is an important point for us. We want to be a diverse and inclusive organisation, and that means you have to be alert to this in all activities.”
The Health and Safety app in daily practice
In addition to the topics of the health and safety catalogue being quickly and easily searchable, the app also contains tips and videos. This makes the health and safety topics concrete and immediately applicable. In the app, you can indicate where you work and what type of work you do. Based on this, you receive tailored information in the app, which saves employees a lot of searching.
Marga explains how provincial employees benefit from the app: “Safe and healthy working is relevant every day. It is sometimes in very small things, and it is precisely about that daily practice. What about your home workspace? How do you sit at the office? How do you adjust your car seat? Do you take a break when you’re busy? Then it is important that this information is also quickly and clearly found.
There are provinces that regularly organise lunch walks. Through the app, you can make employees aware of this. In this way, you can integrate health and safety matters much more into daily work, which is actually what health and safety is intended for. We should all work safely and healthily every day.”
Sharing relevant and important information
The AO Fund for Provinces uses the app as a communication channel to reach more people. Marga: “For example, in the autumn, I give courses and workshops for works councils on work pressure and sustainability. These are topics that can be nicely communicated through the app.”
With an app, you can target specific groups of employees, such as only those working on the road in the province of Groningen. This way, you can inform employees in a very targeted manner about topics that are important to them.
An app can also be used for incident reporting. Marga sees this as a possible expansion of the app. “During an incident, a phone is really crucial because you can report the incident on the spot”.
From idea to an app in the app store
Developing a health and safety app: how does it work? We asked Marga how she experienced the process from idea to end product.
“The development process was fun and smooth. We discussed in advance what information and components should be included in the app. Based on this, Yaacomm made a first draft. The most challenging part was describing the health and safety topics in an accessible way, which is really a special skill. The cooperation with Yaacomm went well, and the feedback process was quick. It is important to work from a mockup, an example of what the app will look like, and make adjustments from there. The test versions are also important, and it was great that we had testers who could test on various devices (iOS and Android). This provided valuable information for the final version.”
Yaacomm has already developed an app for the AO Fund for Provinces, the app ‘Het Goede Gesprek’ (The Good Conversation). This app helps employees and managers prepare for and record (development) conversations. Marga Waldekker: “What plays a role is the good experience and cooperation we have with Yaacomm in developing the app ‘Het Goede Gesprek’. That app is very interactive in nature. Because a lot of text also needs to be typed in to record the conversation, this app is also available in a web version; typing text often works better on a larger screen. The app ‘Healthy and Safe Working’ is mainly informative. You need to be able to find your information quickly and easily.”
A recommendation for organisations
Finally, we asked Marga what a health and safety app can mean for organisations. “An app can help to keep health and safety in the spotlight and provide concrete tools for a healthy and safe workplace. It is a great tool to easily reach people and provide information.
For us as a sector organisation, it is a useful instrument, and I certainly think it also has added value for individual organisations. The app offers many possibilities for fast and accessible information provision on healthy and safe working.”
More information about this app can be found on the website of the AO-fonds Provincies.
The app is free to download in the Apple App Store and Play Store.
Extensive information about tools in the field of health and safety and sustainable employability can be found on our website.
