As a Fortune 500 power technology leader operating in 50+ countries, Cummins faced a fundamental challenge: how to standardize and scale safety practices across a complex, international footprint of over 400 locations—while boosting the engagement of its frontline workforce. Paper-based Job Safety Assessments (JSAs) and Observations (JSOs) made it nearly impossible to capture actionable data or close the communication loop between workers and supervisors.
The company needed a solution that not only digitized its processes, but embedded safety into everyday workflows while surfacing real-time risks from the field.
Cummins aimed to accomplish three key objectives:
"We asked ourselves, how do we get resources into the hands of frontline workers—beyond just a piece of paper?”
"The goal was to create a two-way safety dialogue where employees could easily report concerns and know that supervisors and leaders would respond. This was especially critical for reinforcing engagement and trust through the organization’s Job Safety Analysis (JSA) and JSO (Job Safety Observation) programs.
Instead of letting JSA and JSO data go to waste on paper, Cummins wanted to shift from a reactive to a proactive safety culture through data-driven risk prevention and real-time identification of potential issues and trends.
Cummins partnered with ANVL to deploy a comprehensive digital frontline safety platform that would scale globally while maintaining local relevance. With the help of ANVL’s AI-powered Mobilize solution, Cummins immediately digitized their existing JSA and JSO checklists. As part of this effort, Cummins brought together subject matter experts, health and safety managers, and the technicians performing the work to see what could be improved and simplified within their existing procedures. They also developed a call tree within the app so workers could reach out to their electrical safety leader or coordinator within the region if they had a serious concern or issue.
Starting with a North American pilot, the company rapidly scaled globally thanks to strong grassroots adoption. Technicians and safety leaders alike saw immediate value in the platform’s real-time guidance, multilingual capabilities (translating forms in 16 languages), and smart workflows designed for the realities of field and shop floor work.
Integrated JSA and JSO programs gave employees a simple way to assess risk, report concerns, and engage supervisors in two-way communication—all within one mobile application.
When we looked at the data, there was a heat map around that one question. So, when we dove a little bit deeper, we engaged with the employees and said, ‘Hey, what’s going on? We’ve seen a lot of these answers are changing.’ And what they said was, ‘We’re not sure. We don’t think we’re authorized.’ That was exactly the case. We were unaware that they were performing electrical work that was in line with NFPA 70 E and that of an authorized employee. So we quickly adjusted, signed our in-shop employees that were doing that specific work up for the proper training, got them the proper PPE, the proper tooling. Something that very could have very easily led to an incident, we were able to solve for proactively, all because we noticed those changing answers. There’s some smoke here, and we addressed it before it became a fire. It was a phenomenal catch. So, just from the start, very early on in the program, I was hooked.”
Cummins partnered with ANVL to deploy a comprehensive digital frontline safety platform that would scale globally while maintaining local relevance. With the help of ANVL’s AI-powered Mobilize solution, Cummins immediately digitized their existing JSA and JSO checklists. As part of this effort, Cummins brought together subject matter experts, health and safety managers, and the technicians performing the work to see what could be improved and simplified within their existing procedures. They also developed a call tree within the app so workers could reach out to their electrical safety leader or coordinator within the region if they had a serious concern or issue.
Starting with a North American pilot, the company rapidly scaled globally thanks to strong grassroots adoption. Technicians and safety leaders alike saw immediate value in the platform’s real-time guidance, multilingual capabilities (translating forms in 16 languages), and smart workflows designed for the realities of field and shop floor work.
Integrated JSA and JSO programs gave employees a simple way to assess risk, report concerns, and engage supervisors in two-way communication—all within one mobile application.
According to Joe Richardson, early on in Cummins’ journey with ANVL, they uncovered a trend that brought safety leadership closer to the reality of the work being performed on the shop floor. Richardson observed that technicians often changed their answer to a specific question in their JSA: Is the employee trained and authorized to perform the work? Joe explained,
When we looked at the data, there was a heat map around that one question. So, when we dove a little bit deeper, we engaged with the employees and said, ‘Hey, what’s going on? We’ve seen a lot of these answers are changing.’ And what they said was, ‘We’re not sure. We don’t think we’re authorized.’ That was exactly the case. We were unaware that they were performing electrical work that was in line with NFPA 70 E and that of an authorized employee. So we quickly adjusted, signed our in-shop employees that were doing that specific work up for the proper training, got them the proper PPE, the proper tooling. Something that very could have very easily led to an incident, we were able to solve for proactively, all because we noticed those changing answers. There’s some smoke here, and we addressed it before it became a fire. It was a phenomenal catch. So, just from the start, very early on in the program, I was hooked.”
Every EHS manager’s dream is to reach zero. Driving to zero recordables across electrical safety – that’s 26 lives impacted.”—Joe Richardson It’s not about checking a box—it’s about giving workers a voice and the tools to stay safe, every day. When technicians see leadership respond to their safety input, it builds credibility and participation. That’s how culture shifts.” Cummins’ advice to organizations looking to begin their operational safety transformation is simple:
Begin with pilot sites—especially those with safety challenges—and let adoption spread from success.
Closing the loop requires managers to act when safety concerns are raised. Change starts at the top
Software alone isn’t a silver bullet. Combine intuitive tools like ANVL with a commitment to listening and acting on worker feedback.
We didn’t just implement software—we embedded it in the culture. You can buy software all day long. But you’ve got to have the culture and participation to go along with it.”
