E Light Electric

Creating an employee-centric culture

For Jason Wheeler, VP of Operations at E Light Electric, his work isn’t just about solar power fields, but more so about taking care of team members. The solar electric company places a lot of emphasis on in-house training, both in safety and in skills specific to career advancement.

Jason cites this commitment to growing their labor force’s skills as the basis for excellence in the company’s deliverables as well. “We’re never satisfied with good enough. We’re always looking for the newer, faster, better way of doing things and being safe.”

This focus on safety, and the desire to improve upon existing processes, is what drove Ted Smith, Director of Education and Loss Prevention, to explore technical solutions to their paper auditing process. That’s how he found and tested SafetyCulture in the field.

Implementing SafetyCulture in the Field

Employees used to rely on written reports for communication between the field and the office. The problem was that a lot of times the notebook was left in one location in the field and at the end of the day, the supervisor had to pull everything that had happened that day from their memory, much of which could easily be forgotten.

SafetyCulture platform fundamentally changed how E Light Electric employees communicate between the field and the office. Jason, the VP of Operations, spends 50% less time on airplanes now. Thanks to the enhanced visibility that SafetyCulture platform provides, he no longer has to spend so much time shuttling between various work sites. He says, “At a professional level, it means I can spend more time developing processes that evolve the way the company does things, the bigger picture stuff, versus being on planes trying to mitigate issues. Personally it means I have more time to spend with my family. It means I sleep in my own bed every night. That’s huge.” SafetyCulture platform also helps safety managers spend more time in the field, rather than at their desks filing reports. “In construction, there’s always a bit of a gap between the main office and what really happens in the field. SafetyCulture helps us close that gap,” says Jason. On average, SafetyCulture platform saves an hour to an hour and a half per job per day of each employees’ time.

E Light has field workers who can take snapshots of what’s really happening at each site. For supervisors who aren’t out in the trenches every single day, it gives them the opportunity to make decisions and have important conversations before they become an issue. This dedication to safety and efficiency has led to 5 million man hours without a lost time incident.

The importance of a tool that’s easy to use

Adam Richmond, Safety Manager at E Light Electric, cites the ease of use of SafetyCulture platform as a major reason it was adopted in the company. “You have a lot of old-school employees who don’t ever mess with a computer. But I’m actually really impressed with how well they’ve taken to SafetyCulture platform. They fought it in the beginning just because it’s new but now it’s their go-to thing.” Adam says that thanks to their safety checklists, the company can track leading indicators to prevent an incident before it ever occurs.

SafetyCulture platform is now used in many facets of E Light Electric’s business; from daily safety reports, to job hazard analysis, from STOP initiatives to quality control checks. It’s been rolled out through the entire organization for field workers and supervisors alike, to enhance communication between the field and the office, improve visibility and ultimately keep employees safer and projects wrapping up on time.