e-Toolbox to be expanded, PSA training seeks customers

The e-Toolbox from swiss safety has been on the market for some time. It provides safety officers and supervisors with important information and small training units to support the use of PPE. Today, the toolbox is also available in digital form so that it can be accessed by supervisors and employees at any location, for example on the construction site. The e-toolbox must be a tool that is easy to understand but also provides information quickly, because that is the only way users will pick it up, as swiss safety President Dominique Graber emphasized at the General Assembly (AGM) in Pratteln. The industry association is proud that the tool has been in use at Switzerland's largest employer, SBB, for about a year.

Videos should support

The e-Toolbox is to become even more user-friendly and language-neutral. Images and videos help to increase understanding of the use of PPE. The trade association has therefore had a video produced to this end - it was shown to members at the AGM on April 21. The video focuses on the PPE area "eyes and face protection". This is a pilot test that will show whether it can also generate added value for customers - first and foremost the SBB.

However, the interactive e-Toolbox is not only being further developed, it is also to be actively marketed according to the professional association. This is the responsibility of honorary member Hanspeter Mathis, who is entrusted with this task and reported on his initial experiences in this regard. According to Mathis, he has intensively "plowed" 25 customers in the last few months. They have been enthusiastic, and Mathis is convinced that the business will bear fruit in the longer term.

Training program: rocky start

Personal protective equipment is the final piece of the puzzle in preventing accidents and damage to health, writes the PPE industry association. To ensure that their equipment is used correctly, the industry association of PPE manufacturers and suppliers sees itself as a competence center that also offers PPE training.

Companies can use this offer for Continuing education courses whether on or off the job. At the AGM, Graber emphasized that this offer was in no way intended to compete with PPE providers or manufacturers. The training program is not yet running so smoothly, as can be seen from the 2022 annual accounts presented by swiss safety managing director Martin Moos. So far, the industry association has only held one course: a theory and practical course in the area of "building trade communities". Feedback from participants has been very good, Graber said. "We will use it for promotional purposes."

The industry association does not (yet) want to tackle other projects such as the further development of the e-Toolbox and PSA training due to the complexity.

Market study approved

One item that generated discussion at the AGM in the Haus der Wirtschaft in Pratteln was the now fifth market study (cf. market study 2018), which is due to take place. In particular, the timing of the study was a contentious issue: Should the commissioned market research company Ipsos start this year or not until 2024? The cost of the trend study: 120,000 Swiss francs including VAT. According to Graber, Suva will contribute CHF 10,000 to the costs. In addition, the association assumes that it can still sell one or the other study at a price of 4,000 francs each. "We consider the study very important and useful for our members, which is why the association also wants to bear a certain part of the costs," Graber said. The majority of voters rejected a motion to conduct the market study in 2024. In the final vote, the agenda item "market study" was approved. Accordingly, the market research company can start work this year.