4site have provided safety consultancy and compliance services to the Block Management industry for over 15 years. In doing so, we identified quite early on the need for safety software to support and simplify sometimes unnecessarily complex processes; such as the management of your health and safety reports. Since then, our in-house software development team has grown rapidly and we are always developing new solutions in line with industry updates and changes.
Scott Masters heads up our IT & Software department so we spoke with him to discuss the benefits of Property Managers and Landlords using software to assist with the compliance and safety management of their blocks.
Can you tell us a little bit about your role at 4site?
My role largely revolves around our software arm of the business, but also manages our in-house IT operations. A lot of companies that have a focus in an industry such as safety but offer a secondary service such as a software platform, tend to outsource their software development work to a third party. We have approached this slightly differently and have instead built a software specific IT team over the years in order to create our own bespoke software tailored towards our Block and Property Management clients, who are able to use it free of charge. My role within this is to head up and manage these IT operations and our growing software development team, while innovating solutions to solve the challenges property managers face in the industry.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
With the industry changing so much and responsibilities on Property Managers growing rapidly, our team has had to adapt proactively to support our clients as and when legislation and guidance changes, and our software team is no different. With a knowledge and understanding of the industry, I enjoy innovating solutions in order to cater for these changes. One example of this is our new Smart Safety QR code software, which was initially derived from a client request for easier access to a property’s safety information. After sitting down with these property professionals, we discussed ideas – including more customization, virtual visitor sign in and concern reporting – and developed Smart Safety into what it is today.
What types of Safety Software do 4site offer?
Our main software is exactly that, a safety management platform for Property Managers to access and manage their health and safety reports. We recently connected this up to Safe4site to allow Property Managers access to accredited contractors for works found by our reports. This also links in nicely with our Site Inspection app and, as previously mentioned, our Smart Safety QR Code software. We also have our internal management applications that allow our day-to-day operations to run – so quite the portfolio of software that we’ve built and maintained over the years. That portfolio will be growing over the next few years with some really great innovations coming soon!
How does this aim to benefit the industry?
Managing safety is a hugely important aspect of a Property Manager’s role, and getting something wrong can be extremely costly and more importantly can risk lives. The software we provide aims to assist with this giant task and responsibility, and relieve some of the pressures on Property Managers and Landlords by providing clear information and functionality. We believe quite firmly that there shouldn’t be any barriers when managing the safety of your blocks and so all of our software is currently part of our service to our clients for free.
