Better together: SALUS begins collaboration strategy in Alberta

The first steps have been taken on an ambitious journey to help all industries within  health and safety use cutting edge technology to evolve the audit process saving you time and money.

SALUS, a digital health and safety management platform created for the construction sector, is working with software companies and associations in Alberta as part of a new approach to build a more collaborative community to service all industries.

Rather than a typical quid pro quo approach to generate fast revenue or get access to new customer leads, SALUS’ goal is simple: make health and safety in construction and all industries better, together. 

They believe that if they can demonstrate their commitment to this goal, it could start a transformation that spreads across all industries and improve it for everybody. 

“We have an opportunity to be the catalyst for helping the health and safety industry to evolve to the next level.”

Gabe Guetta – SALUS Founder and CEO

“For us, the industry is what matters — pulling relationships together, creating networks, and creating efficiencies for your customers. If they are happy, we are happy and everybody wins,” said Gabe Guetta, SALUS CEO and founder. “Software companies breaking into the construction industry need to stop focusing on the money. They need to focus on the relationships and the bigger picture of how their products help change the industry.  Money comes in the end when those primary objectives have been accomplished.”

Guetta explained that some industries such as the construction industry can be incredibly fragmented. For a project, you often have a general contractor work with dozens of subcontractors. Many are using completely different software systems for health and safety that don’t integrate with each other. Some aren’t using software at all. 

“We want to start a process where we can bring things together. This could be the first step towards that,” said Guetta. “We want businesses to partner with us because it makes them better.

There is value that comes from the partnership. They grow better with us compared to going at it alone.” 

Partnering with AuditSoft

To kick this process off, SALUS’ team announced a partnership with AuditSoft, which was founded in Alberta. The company’s award-winning software enables best practice safety and compliance auditing at scale, and was launched to make Certificate of Recognition (COR) auditing more efficient and impactful.

AuditSoft’s solution suite drives standardization and inter-auditor consistency, then deconstructs audit scores to analyze the data comparatively.

“We want to aggregate that auditing data to see areas of improvement, drive training and awareness, and see how the industry is moving toward compliance,” explained AuditSoft founder Ben Snyman. “These insights enable data-driven decision-making at both Association and membership level and fuel continuous improvement.”

The collaboration will integrate SALUS with AuditSoft’s Open API, allowing users to access and embed critical safety documents, submitted forms, and worker certificates directly into their audit reports with a click of a button. This enhanced functionality alleviates the burden of manual data transfer and optimizes audit workflows.  

“We are all part of the ecosystem of data and don’t really need to compete. This adds value to all the stakeholders,” said Snyman. “We have a long term view. We believe in what SALUS is doing and believe over time the value will be reciprocal.”

Working with Certifying Partners 

But SALUS hasn’t stopped there. Their team is also working with the Alberta Association for Safety Partnerships (AASP), one of Alberta’s largest official certifiers for the COR program, to streamline access for members. AASP CEO Ray Gaetz explained that the association was an early AuditSoft adopter and he is excited to see it integrated into other software that can be made available to all members in all industries.

“If you don’t have a good management system with a good dashboard that can help you manage details at your fingertips, it’s like herding cats,” he said. “Any company that is growing their health and safety program wants to save time, money and ensure that they can follow up on things in a timely fashion. You can’t afford not to have it.”

The integration comes at an auspicious time for the province. Ray explained that the COR certifying partners and government officials have been holding meetings on how to harmonize efforts and improve health and safety for everyone. 

“We are now working towards the possibility of accepting other province’s COR certifications,” he said. “If we can do that across Canada that will be a huge win.” 

Part of this effort has been AASP’s input on AuditSoft and pushing to make it available to every certifying partner. But after spending two decades working in human resources and overseeing COR certifications, Gaetz is cautious about what he recommends for members. He believes that AuditSoft and SALUS can help the industry achieve its safety goals for years to come. 

“They knew who we were, how we operated, and shared the same values. And that is what I see in SALUS: a very customer service focused, cutting edge technology, and a quality product that they support,” he said. “They say they are in it for the long haul and that’s very important to us, having someone that won’t just disappear. Collaborating with companies like that is very important.”

Guetta explained that its collaborative approach in Alberta is just the beginning. SALUS plans to approach each major construction market in a bespoke way to try and bring its health and safety stakeholders together. 

One of the big challenges is getting direct competitors to work together. Guetta believes that over time SALUS can knock down those walls with their actions. 

“We have an opportunity to be the catalyst for helping the health and safety industry to evolve to the next level,” he said. “We can help power that change. And you have to look at that as the value, not the money. If you can help bring everyone together and create this community and bring change, that is powerful.”