How it began

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the UK’s regulator of health and safety, approached us in 2008 to create a new version of their Safety Climate Tool (SCT).

The tool is used by organisations across the globe to assess the safety culture in their organisation as perceived by their employees.

Working closely with the HSE, our Projects Team and Software Development teams built a new framework based on our Snap Survey software to host and deliver the Safety Climate Tool.

The SCT offers digital questionnaire design with real-time analysis, auto-generating reports with built-in recommendations based on the survey results.

Over the years we have continually updated the tool to optimise it for modern technology.

At a glance: The Safety Climate Tool

  • Used by over 300 organisations worldwide
  • 150,000 responses in 2019
  • Generated over £5 million in sales
  • New innovative features added each year

Customer profile: HSE

  • UK governmental body responsible for health and safety in the UK
  • Based in Buxton

If you need a custom tool built for you – talk to us!

“We approached Snap Surveys because we felt they could provide a robust platform for the Safety Climate Tool with the flexibility to cost effectively tailor the software to our specific requirements.”

Dr Paul Bridges, Business Lead – Health and Safety Executive Commercial

The mission

In 2008 we created what was then a unique digitised feedback tool for the HSE to be used in workplaces worldwide.

Working in partnership with the Health and Safety Executive, we developed this digital feedback tool that helps employers to assess health and safety cultures in their organisations. It was the combination of HSE’s domain expertise and Snap Surveys’ software and development experience that made this collaboration such a success.

Over the years we have continually redeveloped the tool to make sure it remains the premier method for assessing Health and Safety cultures in organisations all over the country.

What is the Safety Climate Tool?

We built the Safety Climate Tool as a customisable questionnaire with personalised reporting.

Employees take a survey on the organisation’s health and safety culture, and then built-in recommendations from HSE are auto-generated based on the feedback received.

Example result and recommendation

Result

X% of employees “strongly agree” that their supervisor values productivity over adherence to health and safety guidelines

Recommendation

Re-train supervisors and announce to all staff that health and safety should be prioritised over productivity where appropriate

What else do the reports provide?

  • Identifies high / low performing areas
  • Recommendations for improvement for the lowest performing areas
  • Benchmarks to industry standards

The evolution of the Safety Climate Tool since 2008

Although standard now, many features of the Safety Climate Tool were innovative and brand new to the industry at the time. Here’s the story of how we built the tool and the changes we’ve made to future-proof it over the years.

2008: HSE contacts Snap Surveys asking for help and we build the tool

  • This was the first Solo/template/SPBT we ever made, which represented a big challenge. That concept didn’t exist before this one.
  • HSE needed a way for organisations to run a version of a standard survey, but customise it (with organisation name, logo, departments, sites etc). The standardisation meant that HSE would be able to collect benchmarks (which would later be added to the reporting), but the customisation allowed orgs to make it relevant to them.
  • Originally it was on a CD rom! The analysis was a series of charts.
  • Then we moved it online, which simplified the process and overcame the problem of installation for the users.
  • The ‘Qwizard’ was developed and added. This allowed users to customise their main survey via a simple pre-survey (instead of a clunky old school wizard).
  • Smart Reporting: including comparisons to benchmark data, which had been collected in the early years of the tool. Benchmarks are updated every year. This included a ‘next steps’ section, to help users interpret their data. So we had to configure it to show different advice depending on results.
  • Then we added various language versions of the template so it could be used all over the world. As of 2020, the SCT is available in 50 languages.
  • Also added smartphone and desktop versions to make it easier for respondents to have their say

Similar tools we’ve created for HSE upon request

“As well as the Safety Climate Tool, Snap Surveys also developed the Stress Indicator Tool in a similar way and we are looking to introduce a tool for musculoskeletal disorders soon. ”

Dr Paul Bridges, Business Lead – Health and Safety Executive Commercial

In our partnership with the HSE we have built the following tools:

The Stress Indicator Tool benefits organisations looking to combat employee stress in the workplace.

The MSD Tool is for use by those who are assessing an individual completing a task. For example, assessing the risk to an individual required to transfer packages from one location to another in a factory setting.

The assessor can use the MSD tool to assess individuals and suggest improvements to the process and/or the location.

An Organisation-level Report shows trends found in assessments over time, while highlighting any high-risk tasks or locations. It’s highly visual and is intended to be run on tablets or other devices on-the-go, either online or offline.

If you have the need for a similar bespoke tool then please do get in touch and we’ll see how we can help.