Building Reports Safety Compliance Case Study
How we helped Building Reports succeed
The Customer
Maintaining building safety compliance is critical to the service companies, building owners, fire, and safety officials who are charged with safeguarding occupants. Building Reports is a developer of award-winning mobile and online inspection reporting tools. Their products enable inspectors to gather data on fire and life safety devices quickly. Through easily verifiable inspection reports, inspectors can determine whether devices are working properly and meet code requirements. If the devices do not meet code, inspectors can then identify the actions needed to meet compliance.
With millions of inspection reports to date, hundreds of thousands of buildings represented, and over 800 inspection companies in its network, Building Reports has earned its reputation as a trusted name in compliance reporting.
The Challenge
Mobile devices have limited battery power. Back-up batteries and special scanners can help to lengthen charge and avoid the drain of power-hungry phone cameras. But that's often not enough.
Based on recent industry benchmark reports compiled from BuildingReports' database—the largest of its kind in the world—an inspection can take over six hours to complete. Time is money, and stopping to recharge a mobile device is not only inefficient, but the costs for hourly downtime can be expensive.
There are also physical challenges, particularly in industrial and assembly occupancy types. There, high ceilings can make it difficult or impossible to scan devices, like smoke detectors, which can be mounted out of reach or located in tight spaces.
Inspectors can reach high enough by clipping mobile devices equipped with barcode scanners to extension poles, but this doesn't solve the problem of activating the camera or scanner from the ground. This also increases the risk of damaging or breaking these expensive devices if the pole is dropped or banged against a hard object.
The Socket Mobile Solution
BuildingReports selected the S800 1D imager barcode scanner to partner with lightweight, durable pole clips for extended reach. BuildingReports leverages 3-D printing technology to produce three different clips to attach the scanner to equipment that service companies use for testing in the field (such as telescoping and smoke detector testing poles).
The primary benefit is that service companies can reach fire and life safety devices without having to lug a ladder or lift around the facility they are inspecting.
The Results
Within a few months of introducing the availability of the S800 imager, members purchased more than 500 scanner units; dozens of new orders were placed weekly. There are several key benefits that BuildingReports' members have expressed:
Price – the device is much more cost-effective than mobile devices currently on the market, allowing service companies to adopt a BYOD policy for inspectors.
Lightweight but Durable - this addresses the pain point around the pole attachments. The S800 makes the pole less heavy and more balanced while also being less susceptible to physical damage than a mobile device with a glass touchscreen and sensitive internal components.
Battery Life - Inspectors can preserve their mobile phone batteries by simply using the barcode scanner for data rather than draining the mobile substantially by scanning with the phone's built-in camera. The barcode scanner also uses less power, allowing for more scans per charge. This means more uptime for inspectors and less time sitting around waiting for scanners or mobile phones to recharge.
