New updates for award-winning safety app
5th March 2021
Smart Farmer, which offers practical solutions to keep machinery operators safe, has introduced a range of new features and updates, with further development on the way. We spoke to creator Marc Skivington to find out more.
Launched by Aberdeenshire farmer Marc, the Smart Farmer app allows farmers and users of agricultural machinery to log checks, maintenance and servicing.
With farm safety a growing concern, the app has taken the industry by storm, picking up numerous awards. Recently-launched new features include risk assessments and training documents.
Users can now upload PDF risk assessments to the Smart Farmer app and add mitigative actions, giving the operator a green, amber or red risk level. The user can see the uploaded risk assessment on the app before operating machinery.
In addition, users can upload PDF training documents and create multi-choice questions, allowing machinery operators to train as they go and set dates for refresher courses.
Marc says other new features are now in development, including lone working, which will allow operators to set times for the ‘start’ and ‘end’ of their day. Managers will be able to select a time frame for how often the GPS locator tracks the operator’s longitude and latitude (e.g. every 15 minutes, every hour etc). If the operator is still in the same place after this point, an alert will be sent to the admin user so they can call the operator or drive out to the location to check they are safe.
Another feature under development is ‘field hazards’. Users will be able to create field names, boundaries and points of hazards – ranging from overhead power cables to public footpaths and schools – using simple keys in the app. Once in the field, the operator will be made aware of the hazard through ping notifications.
In addition to adding more features to the app, Smart Farmer has now introduced a 28-day free trial of the app, as well as welcoming a new team member, digital marketer Callum Rankine (pictured), who has launched a new website – www.smartfarmerapp.co.uk – and will be sending out free monthly newsletters (sign up via the website), as well as creating video tutorials for the Smart Farmer YouTube channel.
A digital operators’ manual has also been developed to help customers use the Smart Farmer system effectively.
