A.H. Beck implemented HCSS Skills a few years ago to keep track of all employee skills and certifications in one place online. With each Skills release, they took immediate advantage of new features including the QR Code function that we debuted earlier this year. If you are unfamiliar with HCSS Skills, the HCSS Skills Manager Dashboard allows A.H. Beck to report on every employee skill or certification, attach supporting images and documentation, and easily keep track of pending expiration dates.

QR (Quick Response) codes have been around for over 25 years to replace outdated barcode technology to quickly find things. Barcodes are limited to 20 alpha-numeric characters, while QR codes can contain 7000 characters, and can be scanned from any direction. The universal advantage of the QR code came when every android and iOS device added the ability to interpret QR codes without extra software. In fact, all you have to do to read a QR code is open your camera on your phone, point it at the code, and the smartphone will display the encoded message or URL. With long complicated website addresses, QR codes became a solution for sharing what you would not be able to remember or easily record.

Mike Walker, IT Director A.H. Beck Foundation Co., leveraged the new QR code feature of HCSS Skills to update and print new safety badges for all A.H. Beck employees in the field. Scanning the QR Code on a particular employee’s badge loads a website with the most up-to-date list of qualifications with attachments, and solves the problem of officials asking, “Where is your proof? Where is your documentation? Show me you are qualified for ____.” As Matt Fidler, Senior Implementation Specialist, says, “You have a digital filing cabinet anywhere you go.”

“With this in the field, we created an “Essential Work Certification” skill and assigned it to all employees. This made it extremely easy to put a supporting document in every employee’s hand regarding our company’s exemption from “Stay at home” orders,” says Mike Walker.

The use of QR codes had been requested by several companies in the past, and one of our customers at the HCSS Users Group Meeting got the attention of an HCSS programmer, Jonathan Hinchley. Jonathan formed a team to program the feature as their entry to HCSS’s Annual Ideas Cup Competition (Think Shark Tank for HCSS). The original concept printed QR codes on stickers for safety helmets to allow hands-free and paperless access on the job site. It showed so well internally that we released it to customers within a few months.

We debuted the QR Code feature of HCSS Skills at our Annual User’s Group Meeting this year, and every employee at HCSS had a QR Code on their badge. We wanted to show how quickly information could be accessed. Try out these examples:

If you Own HeavyJob, you can use HCSS Skills as an add-on, and according to Tiffany Murphree, HCSS Skills and Safety Product Manager, on the roadmap later this year for QR Codes includes Forms QR Codes for fill out forms, and Equipment QR Codes to show inspection history.

If you want to find more resources on how to set up the HCSS Skills QR Codes, here are a few places to get started:

• Help Documentation on QR Codes
• How to Generate and Print QR Codes
• Academy Course on HCSS Skills and Certifications
• Find out more about HCSS Safety or Skills

If you have applications for QR Codes that you’d like to share, feel free to post them below in the comments or join the HCSS Community where others in the industry are sharing questions and ideas.

If you have a story of how you are using HCSS successfully that you want to share, please email me – daniel@hcss.com.