Paperwork. It’s time consuming. But across supply chain operations, documentation is necessary. And ensuring it is completed fully, accurately and timely is essential to protecting your workers, your business and your reputation.

Enforce safety

One of the most relatable and common forms supply chain operations teams relate with are the forklift and pallet jack inspection checklists. Before wheeling around the warehouse, it’s imperative to make sure the equipment is in good working order. 

On paper, this form is completed wherever the forklift was parked, then either walked back to the manager’s office (unnecessary travel time) or stored on the clipboard in the forklift until the driver has a chance to deliver it later —leaving you hoping the form was completed before work started. 

In the US alone, there are more than 850,000 forklifts in service. That means that hundreds of thousands of inspection checklists are completed each day (even more considering multiple-shift operations), and likely into the millions when you consider around-the-clock operations.

Digital forms are electronically sent to the proper recipient immediately, avoiding travel time. And, by building forms into your task workflows, you can make them mandatory – halting progression in the task until the form is completed. This gives you peace of mind that the form is completed and helps ensure a safe working environment.

Simplify compliance

What happens at your next safety audit? You’re expected to produce volumes of documentation to support your operation’s compliance with regulatory and safety standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), requires semi-annual reporting of injuries and other incidents about worker safety, in addition to any equipment inspection or service documentation.

How do you keep an archive of so many forms every day, considering requirements to retain records for five years? That’s a lot of file cabinets, not to mention reams of paper, toner cartridges, etc.

Electronic forms make it easier to archive, sort and search among countless files. PDFs of compliance checklists are easily routed to the desired server destination, with notifications shared to key stakeholders for immediate review.

Discover savings

I mentioned the costs of paper, toner and other office materials, in addition to the time lost walking paper forms back across the facility for processing. But there is much more than this.

The savings can come in accident prevention — reducing damage costs, downtime and most importantly, protecting your workers. Add on to that the potential savings on insurance, and the intangibles such as labor relations.

With Velocity Forms, you’re able to reduce risk within your operations. And building these forms into Velocity task workflows helps you maintain control; to ensure required safety checks and inspections are completed routinely. 

Learn more about Velocity Forms or jump into a demo with our product experts to get started.