How Peinemann Digitized Three Core EHS Processes

Founded in 1954 as a family business, the Peinemann Mobilift Group is now an international vertical transport and logistics provider with more than 850 branches all over the world. The company rents and sells a vast range of equipment such as mobile cranes, bundle tractors, forklift trucks, and aerial work platforms.

Like most logistics and vertical transport companies, Peinemann faced the full range of health and safety challenges that come with a distributed workforce. With workers constantly traveling and a paper-based safety system, lots of things could go wrong, and they often did. Paper forms were forgotten and damaged in bad weather to the point of becoming unreadable.

When Paper Just Won't Do

Filling out paper forms is hardly an exciting thing to do but, for the Peinemann staff, it was more than a nuisance. It was a burden that slowed down their key EHS processes. Health and safety data was extremely difficult to collect because of bad handwriting and poor weather conditions, and forms were often lost on their way to the office. These are common problems in the vertical transport industry, where employees are often pressed for time and have to fill in EHS forms on the go.

"The forms were unreadable sometimes. Some workers have the handwriting of a doctor."

At best, managers had fragments of health and safety data, scattered in various physical file folders or gathering digital dust in a long-forgotten corner of someone's hard drive. Manual data input, incomplete forms, and lack of data pushed the company's leaders to look for alternative solutions.

There Must Be an App for That

As part of its sustainability commitment, Peinemann is always looking for ways to reduce paper usage through automation and digitization. The company's safety leadership decided to look for software that would move the paper forms to a digital medium. Having already tried spreadsheets, they knew that wasn't a viable solution. They needed a fully featured, centralized EHS system.

They tested various EHS solutions, looking for the one that would fit their workflow best. The Capptions platform offered all the features Peinemann needed in a single package that could be customized to match the organization's existing health and safety processes.

Digitizing Three Core EHS Processes

At first, Peinemann's safety managers were impressed by the Capptions mobile app because it quickly removed the need to carry paper forms around. But soon they discovered additional benefits that were equally valuable to the business.

"We use Capptions for the reporting of accidents, incidents, improvement proposals, and nowadays also for inspections."

Easy accident reporting, even on the field

Capptions provided Peinemann with a centralized EHS platform that bridged the gap between the field and the back office. Employees can now use their smartphones to report accidents on the go, attaching pictures and even location data with a few taps. All reports are stored securely in the cloud and sent to the relevant stakeholders immediately, creating a real-time connection between management and workers.

"Because we work with the app from Capptions, the information is sent directly to the office, so that we can promptly take action. The employees who work outside are getting their answers and problems solved much faster."

Managers also have access to a detailed KPI dashboard, customized by the Capptions team to match Peinemann's unique needs. This gives safety leaders a true view of incident rates, helps them establish root causes, and lets them implement corrective actions even remotely.

"With the Capptions app, we actually have much more real-time insight about incidents and near misses."

Higher engagement and more improvement proposals

Since reporting is extremely easy with Capptions, Peinemann quickly saw a rise in improvement suggestions. Workers started to engage more in protecting their own health and safety, offering insights that can only be obtained on the front lines of the business.

"You also see that more and more people are starting to use it because the threshold to report something is getting lower."

Quicker inspections and follow-ups

Safety inspections became far easier to manage. Managers can now use their smartphones to document safety hazards and deviations from standards, take photos, assign action items, track progress, and follow up, all on the Capptions platform.

"We just have everything digital and it is readable, clear, and accessible. The employees no longer have to go outside in the rain with a paper form. They just take their tablet or smartphone, fill it in, and, seconds later, we already have it on the computer."

Peinemann's Future Outlook

The company has digitized health and safety, from accident reporting to improvement suggestions. Each employee can now contribute to creating a safer environment, because sending an observation is as effortless as texting a friend.

As a result, safety culture has improved throughout the organization. There's a system in place to prevent more accidents from happening, and managers have higher visibility on the accidents that do occur. The entire organization is now connected in real time through a single safety management platform.

Why This Matters Beyond Vertical Transport

Peinemann's core problem, health and safety data trapped in illegible paper forms with no real-time visibility, is exactly the risk that regulators scrutinize hardest at Seveso/BRZO-classified major-hazard companies under the EU Seveso III Directive (2012/18/EU). When corrective actions depend on someone finding, deciphering, and manually re-entering a paper form, the safety management system has a structural weak point. Custom digital forms, corrective-action tracking with owners and deadlines, and a real-time audit trail are exactly what these sites need to demonstrate.

If you're assessing whether generic safety software can meet that bar, read why generic safety management software falls short for Seveso III companies.