Checklists and incidents
Checklists are the reason a lot of builders put the app on a phone in the first place. A pre-pour check, a safety walk, a handover inspection — done where the work is, signed on the spot.
Running a checklist
Section titled “Running a checklist”Checklists lists what is outstanding for this job. Open one and work down it.
Each item asks for one of:
| Answer type | You give |
|---|---|
| Pass / Fail | A tap |
| Text | A written answer — use dictation |
| Number | A measurement or count |
| Photo | A photograph |
Some items require a photo before they can be answered. The run will not let you finish past one of those without it — which is the point. A pre-pour check with no photo of the reinforcement is not evidence of anything.
Signing
Section titled “Signing”Close out collects a signature on the device.
That signature, the answers, the photos and the time they were captured are stored together as the record of that run. It is the document you produce when somebody asks whether the check was actually done.
Why doing it on the phone matters
Section titled “Why doing it on the phone matters”A checklist filled in on paper has to be transcribed, and the photos live somewhere else — usually a camera roll nobody searches. Done on the phone, the answers, the photographs and the signature are one record attached to the job.
It also timestamps itself. “The frame was checked before the pour” is an assertion; a run closed out at 7:42am with six photographs is a fact.
Incidents
Section titled “Incidents”Incidents is the safety register — near misses, injuries, property damage, anything that needs recording.
Report an incident captures what happened, when, who was involved and photographs. The form prompts for “facts, in order. What, who, how.”
Write facts, not conclusions
Section titled “Write facts, not conclusions”An incident report is read later by people deciding what happened. Write what you saw and can support:
| Avoid | Prefer |
|---|---|
Carpenter was careless |
Carpenter stepped backwards off the second rung, landed on left ankle |
Scaffold was unsafe |
Guard rail missing from the north bay, third lift |
Nobody was hurt luckily |
No injury. Load fell approx 2m, landed in an area nobody was working in. |
Record it the same day. An incident written up a week later is a recollection, and it reads like one.
Closing an incident
Section titled “Closing an incident”Close incident records the outcome once it has been dealt with — what was done, and by whom. An incident left open indefinitely is a register nobody trusts.
What still happens at a desk
Section titled “What still happens at a desk”- Building checklist templates — the items, answer types and which require a photo
- Assigning a template to a contract stage
- Reviewing completed runs and the incident register
- Reporting
A workable routine
Section titled “A workable routine”- Open the job’s Checklists tile — it shows what is outstanding.
- Run the check where the work is, not from the site office.
- Take the photos as you go; the required ones will stop you anyway.
- Close out and sign before you leave.
- Report any incident the same day, with photographs.