Construction, COMAH & chemical sites, Power Generation, Renewables (Onshore & Offshore Wind), Manufacturing & Infrastructure, Hospitality, Ports & Logistics, Aviation
British Steel, Humberside Airport, PX Group, RWE, INEOS, Howdens
50+
~2000
HFR Solutions faced mounting frustration with their previous asset management system. The combination of manual processes and inadequate features created significant operational bottlenecks.
Time-consuming inspections: Their December 2024 six-monthly examination took three PPE inspectors a full week — approximately 120 hours — to inspect around 700 items. The workflow required one person inspecting, another entering serial numbers on the computer, and a third double-checking.
Manual certificate generation: After completing inspections, the team had to manually download data as PDFs and attach them to separately created Certificates of Thorough Examination.
There was no pictures, no information, specifications… it was just, ‘there’s your item, crack on.’
~Training Supervisor, HFR Solutions CIC
This created compliance risk, audit pressure, and growing frustration across both operational teams and health & safety stakeholders.
With equipment distributed across multiple locations, including British Steel sites and chemical plants, effective asset management was critical but increasingly difficult.
HFR evaluated several alternatives, including PaperTrail, Petzl ePPEcentre, GearLog, and a return to spreadsheets. Each fell short for different reasons.
Scannable stood out immediately.
After a short trial, the decision was straightforward.
I looked at the interface and thought, ‘This is so easy to use.’ It didn’t take much to convince me; it was cheaper than Asset Panda—and better.
The initial challenge was standardising inconsistent location data from Asset Panda — different team members had entered the same location multiple ways (e.g., "Tata," "British Steel," "BS," "Emergency Service BS"). Scannable's folder system solved this problem by providing a clear, structured way to organise equipment by location and team.
What was really impressive for me was that adding an item was so easy. The user interface is so easy to use.
The management is so much slicker than what we've ever experienced before. I can open a piece of kit, scan it, and it'll tell me exactly where it is: if it's at British Steel or if it's at the chemical plant or if it's at our place. It's just made equipment management so much easier. And the health and safety team love it.
Scannable also strengthened audit readiness, helping HFR secure confidence during ISO certification reviews.
On the asset management side for ISO, we’ve got a tick in the box.
Beyond the headline time savings, HFR Solutions discovered several features that transformed their daily operations:
It’s worked well for us for the first year, and I think it’s just going to keep getting better.
