Unpacking compliance management software in Australia

Getting your business compliance and corporate governance right is critical to the success of your business — and the safety of your people. It doesn’t matter whether you’re the hotel down the road, an aged care facility, or a multi-site construction company — your duty to abide by local, state, and federal legislation is the same.

In this blog, we’re unpacking the key considerations when choosing compliance management and training software for your Australian business. We look at everything from the software vendor to the critical features of the software itself.

1. Key applications of compliance software systems

Your first consideration when choosing governance, risk and compliance software is to identify each application or compliance area. Will you need your software to take care of:

• WHS risk management — every Australian business under WHS Regulations has a duty to manage and control risks to health and safety using the Hierarchy of Controls. Do you need to create a risk management plan with a list of priority actions and live hazard control monitoring?
• Hazard identification and reporting  — you must keep your business safe for workers, visitors and the general public. There are clear duties in the WHS Regulations to identify and eliminate hazards. Do you need a hazard identification and management system that allows your people to immediately report hazards and assign follow-up to key managers?
• Incident reporting and investigation — all Australian businesses have duties to track workplace injuries as well as report dangerous incidents, injuries, near-misses, and diseases to the WHS regulator in your state or territory. Do you need a live incident reporting system that allows you to appoint an investigation team then assign individual corrective actions?
• Audit and control monitoring — WHS Regulations require all Australian businesses to actively monitor the risk and hazard controls they have in place. Do you need audit tools to test the effectiveness of your control measures?
• Visitor entry and infection controls — monitoring the people who walk onto your worksite or enter the front door has never been more important. Do you need to check the body temperature of a sales rep before they enter your food processing plant, or check the currency of influenza vaccination for a maintenance contractor at your aged care facility?
• Mandatory training — does your industry or employment sector have mandatory training courses that staff must complete before carrying out their duties? This could be Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) and Food Handling courses for hospitality staff, but it could also be fire safety and emergency training required at any workplace.
• Work Permits — do you need to check the validity of work permits, licences, or insurance policies before contractors and employees start work? This could be anything from a current driver’s licence to a confined spaces entry permit.

2. Critical features of compliance management systems

Once you’ve identified which areas of governance and compliance apply to your business, now look at the specific features of the software. Is it:

• Adaptive — can the compliance software quickly adapt to changes in legislation or the sudden emergence of a global pandemic? You may need to instantly change operational procedures or introduce tighter infection controls overnight.
• Real-time updates — does the software system operate in real-time? Could you tell exactly who is on your worksite at any given time? Can you instantly assign corrective actions after a safety incident, track the effectiveness of a control measure, or check which White Cards and work permits are up for renewal?
• Offsite monitoring — does the management software allow you to track hazards, incidents, and compliance breaches from any smartphone, desktop computer, or tablet. Anywhere? Will you receive an instant notification if a contractor arrives at one of your regional job sites without a valid work permit and is let onto the site anyway?
• Unlimited — can you add unlimited users, safety inductions, training courses and content, worksites, job roles, permit types?
• Paperless — will your compliance management system allow you to go completely paperless? Can you stop using spreadsheets to manage your contractors?
• Hardware and Apps — does the software communicate with the latest hardware technologies and Apps, such as entry kiosk terminals, QR Code scanners, smartphone Apps, swipe cards?
• Communicative — do compliance modules seamlessly integrate with one another? For example, Rapid  Contractor Management is easily integrated with Rapid Access, Rapid Permit, and Rapid Induct.        

Looking for compliance training software?
Rapid Induct is Australia’s leading compliance training software — offering unlimited training courses, safety inductions, and content. Plus it hooks into all of our other applications. Learn more >

3. Compliance software vendors

Finally, when choosing your compliance solution you must look at the software vendors and their ability to support the ongoing compliance needs of your business — for the long-term. You’ll want to be asking these key questions.

• Industry experience — to they understand your industry, and can they deal with industry-specific configurations and concerns?
• Help Desk — what type of backup support do they provide? Is the help desk located offshore? What’s their native language? Will you have a dedicated support person who is familiar with your business? Do you need to navigate a complex maze of chats and ticketed support before getting an issue resolved?
• Technology road map — where is the software company headed? Do they respond quickly to changes in legislation? Do they listen to your concerns and make your business needs part of their technology roadmap?
• Security — how is your company data protected? Is the system robust and your data always safe and secure?

Our final word on compliance software companies is to make sure they’re nice and well-qualified people. Of course, your risk and compliance systems need to be accurate and effective, but life is so much easier when updates and issues aren’t a hassle and the people who answer your emails genuinely care about your business.

Next steps to streamlining your business compliance

Rapid Global is a leading supplier of compliance software in Australia and we’re here to help your business implement the systems and controls needed to comply with the complex framework of local, state and federal legislation — as well as industry best practices and international quality standards.

Get in touch with the Rapid team today and request a free demonstration, our team is qualified to help across a broad range of industries. Oh, and we’re nice.

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