Killby & Gayford Case Study

Killby & Gayford is a leading provider of high quality services, across a wide range of construction solutions including building, joinery, security and ATM installations for both new build and refurbishment projects.

Working in partnership with its clients to ensure their requirements are fully met, Killby & Gayford is renowned across the construction sector for its professionalism.

Maintaining this reputation is not an easy task for Managing Surveyor Mike Rixson and his colleagues who have to contend with the logistical challenge of looking after over 300 employees (including 120 directly employed tradesmen), deployed on up to 20 sites at any one time. However, this challenge is now being met with the introduction of Simeio™'s real time site personnel management system into Killby & Gayford's construction arm, providing urgently needed reporting capabilities.

Finger on the pulse

Killby & Gayford were very precise about what they wanted. The main requirement was a system that included a biometric element, in this case a fingerprint reader, as this offers the most accurate recording platform and cannot be manipulated. As Mike explained: "When we started this process, we sent a comprehensive brief to 6 or 7 time and attendance companies who claimed to have a biometric workplace management tool and Simeio were the only company that actually met our brief. Prior to this we had trialed a hand scanning system, but it did not suit our needs."

Killby & Gayford had two key problems it needed to solve. Firstly, from a Health and Safety perspective, they needed to ensure that all employees and subcontractors knew the safety rules of each site. They also needed to be able to provide evidence that they had actually read and accepted these rules, a task made increasingly difficult by multiple sites and individuals moving between sites on any given day.

Secondly, Killby & Gayford wanted the ability to monitor the hours that subcontractors actually spent on-site, so that they could keep an accurate track of costs and be able to provide hard evidence should any issues regarding invoicing or claims arise.

"To us, Simeio is an electronic biometric sign-in device and is exactly what we were looking for. It's working really well and I'm looking forward to expanding it onto other sites and into other areas of the business. It's priced very fairly and can easily be incorporated into a project's costs."
Mike Rixson, Managing Surveyor, Killby & Gayford

No margin for error

Prior to using Simeio™, Killby & Gayford had used a paper based system. The problem with this was that it was open to abuse. Contractors could say they were on-site until 5pm when in fact they had left at 4pm, and individuals could get others to sign-in or out for them. "The advantage of the Simeio system is that there is no option for abuse" explained Mike. "The fingerprint scanner means that only the named individual can sign-in or out and the built in GPS tracker means that managers can be sure that individuals are on-site when they sign-in or out, making it 100% accurate. What's more, the easy to use on-line portal gives us the data in real time and alerts us to any potential issues."

Killby & Gayford have been using Simeio on one of its construction sites for over 4 months, and are so pleased with the results that they are going to roll it out to another 10 sites initially with the plan to roll out to the entire organisation over the next 18 months. "Using Simeio has provided us a number of benefits" added Mike. "In particular, we have seen an increase in productivity due to the improvements in record keeping. Workers are aware that there is no way to manipulate the system and are more diligent. It is also a great addition to our Health and Safety procedures, especially in areas such as roll calls as we now know exactly who is on-site at any one time."

"Additionally, there is a lot less paperwork" continued Mike. "Using the web portal, site managers can see very clearly who was where and for how long, and most importantly managers can be sent email alerts for non compliance – for example if there was no first aider on a particular site. Data is available quickly and easily and is easy to work with."

Quality built in

Within Killby & Gayford, Simeio has been built into the induction process for each site. As part of the device's on-site sign-in process users must complete the Health and Safety induction. The advantage of doing this electronically guarantees there is an accurate record that it has been read and agreed to. In addition, site users have to sign to say that they have the relevant equipment to do their job safely and in accordance with Company site rules.

Win Win

Since Simeio's introduction benefits have been seen across the board, as Mike explains, "We did wonder if people would see this as a 'big brother' approach, but we have had no negative feedback from site managers or subcontractors. In fact, the subcontractors have benefited as they now receive weekly reports on what hours their employees actually worked, which they have found very useful."

The system is also helping minimise invoicing errors and queries by ensuring that individuals sign-in and out. If someone fails to sign-out they will be deemed to have only been on-site for 1 hour. In this respect, the Simeio system is already making a difference by ensuring that actual hours on-site match what is invoiced. And with up to 50 people on one site at any one time, the potential for error is clearly significant.

"The Simeio handset is very easy to use and minimal training was required to get up and running" said Mike. "Whilst currently we keep our handset in the site office it is robust and has been designed to survive the rigours of an average building site."
Mike Rixson, Managing Surveyor, Killby & Gayford