Unlocking Public Participation in Health and Safety

In the world of health and safety (H&S), the responsibility to safeguard everyone, employees and the public alike, is a big one. Organisations with customer-facing operations, whether it's a bustling retail outlet, a vibrant tourist attraction, or an educational institution teeming with students, must extend their duty of care to every individual who interacts with their work environment. While this is paramount, making it simple and accessible for visitors and customers to actively participate in safety has always been a challenge, as traditional tools often fall short.

Enter public forms, which are transforming how organisations engage with visitors, customers, and members of the general public in their everyday health and safety initiatives. 

Building upon the success of sharing pages via a public link (which provides view-only access), public forms take things a step further: allowing people without an account to submit pages (like an incident report) directly into ecoPortal. Let’s take a closer look!

Get a Complete Picture of Your Safety Landscape

For too long, limited communication channels have made it hard for the public to report hazards, near-misses, and incidents. With public forms, this challenge is a thing of the past. Visitors and customers have easy access to report safety concerns themselves via a kiosk, a QR code scan on their mobile, or your website.

Opening a direct communication channel with this large (yet often underrepresented) group of stakeholders means more eyes and ears on the ground. The general public may notice risks that could be overlooked by internal staff, giving you a more comprehensive understanding of the safety issues in your work environment. 

Check out how New Zealand Cricket are using public forms to engage clubs, parents, and volunteers!

Real-Time Insights. Swift Resolution.

Say goodbye to paper forms! Public entries flow directly into ecoPortal, meaning no manual data entry, double-handling, or intermediary processes (like a staff member submitting on someone’s behalf). This not only saves time and resources but also ensures that critical information reaches the right people promptly. 

Be it a near-miss in a retail store, a repair request at a public facility, or anonymous reporting of unsafe activities: activating real-time reporting from the public allows organisations to proactively mitigate risks and foster a culture in which every voice truly matters. 

Promote Trust Through Public Engagement

Transparency is the cornerstone of trust. Inviting the public to actively participate in safety initiatives shows you genuinely care about openness, inclusivity and accountability–boosting your image as a safety-conscious organisation.  Those who submit a report receive a thank-you message (reinforcing that their contribution is a valued one), and they can choose whether to send themselves a copy of what’s been submitted for their own reference.

The ability to look at all your public entries together lets you spot trends in public concerns and make data-driven decisions around resource allocation and preventative measures. This proactive approach not only improves safety outcomes but also shows your commitment to collaborative, continuous improvement.  

Final Words

Safety is a collective endeavour. Public forms is a key part of how we're revolutionising the way organisations engage with the public on H&S matters.
From soliciting feedback to encouraging incident reporting, public forms foster transparency, trust, and proactive risk management–creating safer, healthier environments for everyone. 

Key Takeaways

• Public forms enable broader safety participation: They allow anyone without an account (visitors, customers, the general public) to easily report hazards, near-misses, and incidents directly into the ecoPortal system via kiosks, QR codes, or websites, providing a more complete safety picture.

• Public forms deliver real-time, efficient reporting: Direct submission eliminates manual data entry, double-handling, and intermediary steps, ensuring critical information reaches the right people quickly for swift risk mitigation.

• Public engagement builds trust and facilitates data-driven improvement: Inviting the public to participate promotes transparency and accountability. Collecting all public entries allows organisations to spot trends, making it easier to allocate resources and implement preventative measures collaboratively.
  
  

To see public forms in action, check out our Health & Safety Management Software and book a demo today!