What are flags?

To accommodate different learning styles, a step-by-step article with accompanying screenshots is provided directly below and a video tutorial is also available at the end of this document.

Introduction

Many clients choose to implement “Flags”. Flags are used in the Highwire application to highlight specific areas of risk. The following is a list of common safety flags adopted by clients:

Average EMR > 1.0
Most Recent Year’s EMR > 1.0
Average TRIR >25% above the industry average
Average DART rate >25% above the industry average
Serious, Repeat, or Willful OSHA violations
Other than serious OSHA violations
Fatality in the last three years

Flags will be enabled from a standard set of Highwire flags, but the "triggers" for the flags and the "type" of flag (i.e., critical or caution) can be configured specifically by a client.

Types of Flags

Critical (Red) Flags: these flags are considered to be more serious. Typically, critical flags must be addressed before a contractor is engaged and/or before beginning work on site.

Caution (Yellow) Flags: these flags are considered to be less serious. These flags will be reviewed by a client and if the flag represents a risk based on the scope or scale of a contractor's work, the flag will be addressed before the contractor is engaged and/or begins work on site.

In addition to the common "lagging indicator" flags described above, any client question/requirement can be managed as a flag. In the screenshot below the three yellow flags are associated with client-specific questions. In this case, the client has set up flags for a Quality Control program, a Stop-Work program, and fall protection criteria; as noted, this contractor has triggered flags for these three client-specific criteria.

Flags in Partners View

So where do clients see flags throughout the Highwire platform? Flags are visible to clients in several places throughout the platform. Although recent changes to flags are summarized in a call out on a client's homepage, they are best viewed in more detail in the Partners View.

When you hover over the flags for a specific contractor, you will see a full listing of the flags they have triggered:

Flags and the Contractor Approval Process

For those clients that have established an automatic approval process, flags are the mechanism to implement that process:

If a contractor has a safety score above 80 and no critical (red) flags, a contractor may be automatically approved.
If a contractor has a safety score above 80 but has one or more critical flags the contractor's approval status is automatically set to "Safety Review Required". This indicates to any client user that action is required before awarding work to this contractor and/or before allowing this contractor to begin work on site. The action that will be taken typically involves making sure that the critical flag has been addressed satisfactorily in the client's eyes.

Flags in Projects

Since many clients manage their contractors through Highwire's Projects tab, flags are also prominently displayed throughout the project workflow for easy reference and comparison among bidders:

In the project bid list step:

In the project safety approval step:

And, in the contract award step: