{"id":13838,"date":"2021-03-12T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T16:00:31","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-06-11T07:55:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:55:14","slug":"fortisalberta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-platform\/blog\/power-apps\/fortisalberta\/","title":{"rendered":"FortisAlberta wins Canadian Safety Technology Award for Microsoft Power Platform solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

FortisAlberta<\/a> delivers a safe and reliable electricity service to more than 60% of Alberta\u2019s total electricity distribution network, providing power to more than half a million residential, farm and business customers from across central and southern Alberta. Operating in 240 communities with more than 124,000km of power lines, FortisAlberta\u2019s team comprises more than 1,100 Albertans, including 350 first-line workers, all of whom need to be kept safe from preventable injuries.<\/p>\n

In this blog post we will learn how employees have said goodbye to the piles of paper that have been traditionally used to document Injury Prevention Plans (IPPs) and transitioned to an electronic replacement built using Microsoft Power Platform. The solution \u2013 utilizing Power Apps, Power BI, Microsoft 365 Graph, and Azure services \u2013 recently won the 2021 Canada\u2019s Safest Employers award for Most Innovative Use of Safety Technology.<\/p>\n

The following comment from an Occupational Health and Safety Officer who recently performed a site audit highlights the effectiveness of the solution\u00a0\u2013 \u201cI wish all sites were like this. You guys have everything in place<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Infographic<\/p>\n

Canada’s Safest Employer Awards | Winners and Finalists 2020<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Business scenario<\/h2>\n

With 350 front-line workers working on power lines across the province, injury prevention is an enormous priority. Thus, before any work commences at a site, an Injury Prevention Plan (IPP) must be created to identify the risks and hazards staff need to be aware of and the actions they must take to stay safe on site. This plan must remain dynamic throughout the lifecycle of the site, as any change to the job may inherently carry with it new risks requiring new plans of action.<\/p>\n

\"Quote<\/p>\n

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Before Microsoft Power Platform<\/h2>\n

Before\u00a0adopting a digital approach, FortisAlberta used a paper-based system to fill out and handle IPPs. Paper-based forms were filled out within 30 days and emailed to the Safety department. Recordings of meetings were taken on a hand-held audio recorder and cross-referenced with the paper forms during random periodic checks or if an incident were to occur. To share the IPPs, photographs or photocopies were taken of the filled-out forms and sent over for Site Auditing, which made it challenging to pull information together quickly for review during team safety meetings.<\/p>\n

\"Picture<\/p>\n

The paper-based process caused several challenges:<\/p>\n