SAP, a leader in enterprise application software, has introduced a new functionality that offers better visibility across operations, allowing users to proactively identify and mitigate safety risks before unwanted incidents occur.

Enhancements to the latest version of the SAP EHS (environmental, health and safety) management application will allow customers to move beyond simple compliance reporting and take a more systematic and proactive approach to incident management and operational safety.

For each fatal or catastrophic accident, there are typically 600 near-miss incidents that occur in the background.

The new operational risk management solution provides better insight, helping companies to identify and resolve root causes for these of incidents and the resulting impact on employees, profitability and the environment.

Designed for operations, manufacturing and EHS departments, the application helps reduce the cost and risk of keeping people, plants and products safe, a statement said.

In addition, it helps customers take proactive steps to guarantee up-time and business continuity. For a 10,000-employee company with an "average" safety performance, a 20 per cent reduction in incident rates can mean $4 million in annual savings, according to the statement.

With the new incident management capabilities within SAP EHS Management, companies are able to better capture, analyze and act on near-miss and incident data.

Now all types of incidents can be tracked in one place, providing plant managers with the data needed to continuously improve day-to-day operations.

In this new version, initial incident reporting, workflow-enabled notifications, follow-up investigation and root cause analysis, action management and risk analysis can all be easily administered through the structured framework of the application.

One of the first enterprises to go live with the incident management capabilities of SAP EHS Management is the Germany-based research institute Max Planck Society.

Comprised of more than 80 research institutes, Max Planck needed safety controls that could cover the variety of disciplines for over 20,000 employees while achieving a level of specialization and insight. Additional customers adopting the new solution include Tesoro and other leaders in asset-intensive industries.

"Based on SAP EHS Management, we now have a centralized platform for running operational safety management through all our member institutes," said Dr Joerg Tittor, project leader, occupational safety, Max Planck Society.

"We can identify, investigate, correct and prevent hazardous incidents from occurring more rapidly and with fewer limitations. SAP technology is a cornerstone of what makes the Max Planck Society a safer research organization."

With SAP, customers receive an offers holistic solution consisting of software, services and content to solve their EHS compliance and operational risk management challenges.

Existing SAP customers benefit from prebuilt integration with other SAP applications, which can add value to their existing deployments.

The solution also helps eliminate redundant data entry, streamline processes and prevent errors, and encourages collaboration with closed-loop workflows.

Any company with workplace hazards and safety concerns can benefit from better incident management, especially those in industries such as oil and gas, chemicals, mining, mill products, discrete manufacturing and transportation. – TradeArabia News Service