Prior to 2023, the Tennessee plant relied on a fully paper-based safety reporting process. While near-misses were being documented by the safety team, there were no formal reports submitted directly by frontline employees.
Hazard observations from workers typically had to move through supervisors and manual workflows, with reports captured on paper and stored in filing systems. Without a simple, direct way for employees to contribute, many insights from the field were difficult to consistently capture and act on in a timely manner.
"We were just the bad guys," says Patrick McDowell, Health and Safety Unit Manager. "People thought we were only there to catch them doing something wrong."'
Key Pain Points:
When McDowell joined in 2023, Hankook was pursuing ISO 45001 certification while managing hundreds of construction contractors for a major expansion. The paper system couldn't scale.
The team evaluated five major EHS platforms including KPA and VelocityEHS. However, the pricing models presented significant challenges—quotes ranged from $100,000 to $300,000 annually. Most required a significant upfront investment before they knew what would work and rigid implementations.
Hankook needed something different: flexible, affordable, and simple enough that anyone—from recent high school grads to Korean expatriates with limited English—could use it immediately.
Rather than a traditional rollout, Hankook spent six months deliberately trying to break SafetyAmp.
Over six months, Patrick and Scott worked directly with group leaders, supervisors, and frontline workers to ensure the system would meet real operational needs. Each week, they gathered feedback and made iterative improvements to forms, workflows, and interfaces.
"Travis told us, 'If you break it, we'll figure out how to fix it,'" McDowell recalls. Frontline supervisors and group leaders tested forms, submitted feedback, and requested changes weekly. Form 24001 became form 24740 after 739 iterations.
The team focused obsessively on one question: Would the people actually using this system every day find it easier than the old way?
They customized dashboards by shift. Built QR code equipment inspections. Created visual reports that transcended language barriers. Made the system theirs, not a vendor's off-the-shelf package.
The system delivered measurable results from day one. Incident notifications began flowing to management in real-time, equipment inspections could be completed in seconds using QR codes, and workers gained direct access to report safety concerns.
The most significant change was in near-miss reporting.
"Each near-miss report represents a potential incident that was identified and addressed proactively, contributing to the overall reduction in OSHA reportable incidents and supporting the shift toward preventive safety management." - Patrick McDowell
From 17 near-miss reports in 2023 to 479 in 2025 YTD. Each one represents a hazard caught before someone got hurt.
Workers now report directly through tablets or phones. They watch in real-time as the EHS team investigates, attaches photos, and resolves their concerns. No more black holes.
Claims that took 4–6 days now close the same day. During audits, McDowell pulls inspection records instantly instead of shuffling papers. "You just type in the date and every inspection appears."
EMR rate fell from 0.99 to 0.69—direct result of fewer injuries and proactive hazard identification.
Daily forklift inspections jumped from 4,136 (2024) to 6,576 (2025). The process went from clipboards to QR code scans completed in seconds.
"People stop us in the hallway now," McDowell says. "'Hey, you're safety, can we talk to you about this?' You can't ask for anything better."
The change was psychological more than technological. When workers see their reports acted on within minutes, when they can track resolution progress, when visual dashboards show their department's safety performance, they stop viewing safety as something done to them.
95–98% adoption. SafetyAmp’s multi-lingual capabilities made sure everyone at the facility has a voice.
What started as an EHS tool became a communication platform. Workers now report machine breakdowns, quality issues, behavioral concerns—anything that makes their job harder or more dangerous.
The transformation at Hankook was about giving people the tools and voice they needed to make their workplace safer. Workers who once had no way to report concerns now had a direct line to safety leadership.
Managers who once waited days for incident reports now had real-time visibility. Korean and American employees who once struggled with communication barriers now shared a common visual language around safety data.
The results speak for themselves:
"I am happy and proud to say that the EHS department has slowly moved from a reactive state to a proactive state, and we're now dealing with leading indicators of safety issues versus lagging indicators."
Patrick M
Director of Environmental, Health & Safety
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