Enhancing Safety and Compliance: Ozcare’s Strategic Use of PlanSafe

Ozcare is a leading not-for-profit provider of aged care, home care, disability support, retirement living and hospital services. With over 4000 staff across more than 50 sites, Ozcare has been proudly caring for the Queensland community for nearly 30 years. Cleary an operation that large can only be well managed if it has the right systems and processes to support it.

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PlanSafe: A User-Friendly Training Tool for Staff and Volunteers

For over 15 years Ozcare has been using PlanSafe as a flexible low cost solution to deliver site and role specific instructions in accordance with all 50 sites and their unique Fire Evacuation Plans (FEP). With a link to training available to all occupants via their intranet, its easily accessible for all shift workers, agency staff, volunteers and day staff to complete as often as it is needed. PlanSafe’s online solution and dashboard reporting provides accurate records and compliance status in real time which keeps Tyson Fitzpatrick, Project Manager Major Works & Fire and Safety, confident that Ozcare are doing all they can to keep their Residents and staff safe.

“PlanSafe is just so easy to use.  Managed at site level, all Managers can easily organize any volunteer or worker who is expected to complete over 10 hours of on-site work per fortnight to complete the training within 20 minutes. I can then see via the dashboard who has completed the training and receive alerts when training is due, and every record, current and historical is available whenever I need it”.  

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Accessing Current Floor Plans through PlanSafe for Site Management

In addition to keeping up with FEP training, Tyson knows that if he needs quick access to floor plans for any of his sites, PlanSafe’s documentation is ready and waiting.

“The floor plans within PlanSafe are PlanStudio drafted and automated by Locatrix Staff. Whenever we have an update at site, it is part of our process to call Locatrix and arrange for a drafter to update the plans. Our sites are all over Queensland and it is made so easy by Locatrix who either send their own drafters or a PlanStudio contractor who makes it to the site, updates there and then, which promptly revises online training content too”.  

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Utilizing Accurate Floor Plans for Renovation Planning and Contractor Guidance

The other benefit of having up to date floor plans is being able to use them for planning and quoting.

“Whenever I need to plan minor renovations or provide instructions to visiting trades, I use the site plans updated by Locatrix as they provide simple and easy to read floor plans rather than having to use architectural plans. They are really handy for quick sketches for proposed operational improvements or to communicate to contractors providing these services.  For example, for flooring contractors I can use the plans to clearly mark out what falls in and out of the project scope. This enables us to be crystal clear and avoid any confusion and to ensure proposed outcomes are achieved”

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Maintaining Documentation and Compliance with PlanSafe’s Systematic Alerts

In an industry which by nature does tend to have transient staff, Tyson finds PlanSafe particularly useful for storing site specific documentation and records, making it the single source of truth for electronic documents management.

“One of my responsibilities is to assist sites to make sure all necessary fire compliance documents are up to date. PlanSafe allows these to be stored in an easy to access location if they are ever required to be produced. Occupier Statements, Condition Reports & Annual Evacuation Outcomes are just some of the documents that are stored here in a central repository. The most important outcome we can deliver to our residents and customers is that our sites are safe, providing them the security that helps them live their best life.”

Managing Renovation Safety in Operational Settings with PlanSafe

When asked when PlanSafe is at its most useful, Tyson confirmed it was when trying to manage safety when a site is being renovated within an operational setting. This is where the site cannot shut down during refurbishment projects but instruction has to be updated to maintain safety procedures throughout construction stages. This is critical when you are managing the safety of staff, volunteers, contractors and above all, the safety of residents.

“Sometimes we may have to renovate an area which causes obstruction to a set evacuation path. This is easy to manage with PlanSafe. A quick sketch of the plans sent to Locatrix and they can provide an alternative compliant path that then gets immediately updated in PlanSafe for the duration of the renovation”.

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What Ozcare are Teaching Locatrix

Harry Davidson from Locatrix has been account manager for Ozcare for the past three years.  

“I've had the privilege of working with incredibly dedicated individuals in the Construction/Fire Safety & Compliance team (Tyson Fitzpatrick, Tony Barnett & Sandie Leyland). Ozcare consistently proves to be the ideal client. With over 68,000 staff trained through PlanSafe, I'm excited to continue exploring how our services can further support their organisation's goals”. ‍

"Ozcare’s feedback provided on PlanSafe's roadmap development has been invaluable, consistently finding new and versatile ways to improve and get more value out of the product. As subject matter experts, they are teaching us how we can improve our software to better fit the needs of our customers”.

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To learn more about how PlanSafe, PlanStudio and ESP can support your business get in touch with us.