Interview Implenia
Digitalization in occupational safety with Equasio
As a leading Swiss construction and real estate service provider, Implenia develops, builds, and manages living spaces, workplaces, and infrastructure for future generations in Switzerland and Germany. The company also provides tunneling and related infrastructure services in other markets. Founded in 2006, Implenia can look back on around 150 years of construction tradition. The company combines the expertise of highly qualified consulting, development, planning, and execution units under one roof, creating an integrated, multinational construction and real estate service provider. With its broad range of services and the expertise of its specialists, the group implements large, complex projects and supports customers throughout the entire life cycle of their buildings. The focus is always on customer needs and on maintaining a sustainable balance between economic success and social and environmental responsibility. Headquartered in Opfikon near Zurich, Implenia employs more than 9,000 people (FTE) across Europe.
Thomas Salathé is Head of Safety in the Building Construction Switzerland division. He leads a team of six people and also oversees the operational unit responsible for modernization in the context of occupational safety. His responsibilities include accident prevention, protecting people, and ensuring smooth, legally compliant project execution regarding both workplace safety and environmental protection. He is also in charge of training, awareness-raising measures, and verifying staff qualifications on construction sites.
“In the past, our project teams worked with printed Excel lists that were signed manually on the construction sites, then returned to the office, where they were compiled and redistributed,” recalls Mr. Salathé. “There was no integrated system and no way of getting a real-time overview. Evaluations could take up to two weeks.”
The potential of digitalization, combined with stricter legal requirements in occupational safety, led Implenia to seek a new solution.
Through a contact from Mr. Salathé’s predecessor, Implenia launched a first pilot with the Equasio-System in 2023, testing it in a few selected units.
“The aim of this initial pilot phase was to gather direct feedback from our employees working on construction projects. Together, we realized that the Equasio tool was not yet fully developed. However, both sides worked hard to define the requirements and suggestions for improvement, so that a year later we were ready for implementation,” explains the Head of Safety Buildings
This was followed by a detailed project description and a benchmarking exercise to analyze existing market solutions.
„No other solution was able to meet our requirements as
comprehensively as Equasio’s.”
The enhanced Equasio solution was then tested within Mr. Salathé’s department during the pilot phase, with technical interfaces to surrounding systems also implemented.
“The automatic data exchange was crucial in receiving positive feedback from our project teams,” says Mr. Salathé. “We quickly realized that Equasio saves us around 70% of the manual administrative effort that would otherwise be needed to ensure legal compliance.”
Today, Implenia’s building division in Switzerland uses three modular components of the system:
- Qualification management
- Instructions and briefings
- E-learning and comprehension tests
The weekly Jour Fixe meetings with Equasio enable Mr. Salathé to maintain cooperation and further develop the system in a spirit of joint development.
„Thanks to the tool’s flexibility, service quality, and rapid implementation, it is continuously optimized for the specific needs of construction sites and administration” Thomas Salathé.
“Legal compliance is now guaranteed without manual verification. The system is extremely transparent, and the data of today’s roughly 400 skilled workers is available in real time, right where it is needed – on the construction site.”
Implenia is planning to roll out the system further, with an initial 300 building construction employees in western Switzerland set to receive Equasio. This will be followed by around 400 civil engineering employees in western Switzerland, as well as other units.
“Thanks to our partnership with Equasio, we now meet all documentation requirements with far less administrative effort and at a higher level of quality – all in a fully integrated system,” concludes Thomas Salathé.
