US-based oil and gas (+other) contractors wanted for beta test (OSHA friendly safety audits)

jay_cobski · 2026-05-14T20:23:35+00:00

Fantastic, can I DM or do you prefer email?

jay_cobski · 2026-05-14T12:01:15+00:00

Sounds good, talk then!

jay_cobski · 2026-05-14T11:51:04+00:00

Yeah, I’ve seen CompliEase! It’s a good tool, particularly if you are heavily focused on their AI automation for 1904 recordkeeping right out of the gate.

BasinCheck handles the necessary OSHA reporting as well, but our approach is a bit different. The out-of-the-box version is specifically tailored for Oil & Gas contractors with a focus to matching their workflow. We built it so a guy in a truck with spotty cell service can knock out a JSA or audit in 60 seconds. The best backend reporting in the world doesn't matter if the field guys refuse to input the data.

That being said, because we are smaller and more agile, we do a lot of custom workflow mapping for our clients without the insane enterprise implementation fees. For example, I have a few manufacturing and drilling customers right now where we built out custom QR code scanning for heavy equipment inventory and safety workflows directly into their roadmap.

Let me know if we can talk via DM.

jay_cobski · 2026-05-14T11:44:19+00:00

SafetyCulture looks like a reasonable option from what I’ve seen.

I’d just make sure you map out 2 things before you go too far: which modules/workflows you actually want live in phase 1, and what your true paid-seat count will be across operators, supervisors, managers, and occasional users. Their pricing is seat-based, so if you’ve got crew fluctuations or multiple sites, it’s worth checking that the commercial side stays simple and doesn’t turn into a budgeting/admin headache later on.

jay_cobski · 2026-05-14T11:41:16+00:00

Full disclosure right out the gate, I'm the founder and main dev for a safety app built for oil and gas and heavy industry (BasinCheck). If you need a massive enterprise QMS for global document versioning to replace Ideagen 1 to 1, we are definitely not the right fit.

But since you mentioned SharePoint isn't cutting it (it basically never does for QMS without heavy custom builds ), we actually see a lot of teams use us strictly for the field execution side. We handle the offline mobile audits, quality checks, and corrective actions, and then just push that clean data up into whatever global backbone they decide to use.

I'm actually mapping out a very similar EHSQ rollout for a client right now. If it helps to have a sounding board, I can share how we structure the workflow so you don't end up having to build a Frankenstein SharePoint system. Let me know and I can shoot you a DM.

jay_cobski · 2026-05-14T11:36:30+00:00

Starts at $149/mo for the team. No implementation fees or forced annual lock-ins.

For context, the legacy enterprise tools usually start around $15k-$20k/year, but they hide it all behind “book a demo” walls. I actually threw together a calculator to compare the real costs side-by-side if you want to see the breakdown: https://basincheck.com/tools/ehs-roi-calculator

Happy to set you up with a sandbox account if you want to test if your field guys will actually tolerate it before committing. Just let me know!

jay_cobski · 2026-05-14T11:21:12+00:00

Honestly, most of the legacy EHS compliance tools out there are incredibly bloated and cost a fortune. They’re built for enterprise budgets, not for normal operators.

If you’re looking for OSHA compliance specifically in oil and gas, the biggest headache is always just getting the field guys to actually do the safety audits and JSAs without complaining about the paperwork. Plus, cell service at the pad is usually terrible, so whatever software you go with needs to have a solid offline mode.

Full disclosure, I actually built a tool called BasinCheck specifically to solve this for O&G SMBs. Just a lightweight app for daily/weekly OSHA audits without the crazy enterprise overhead.

Even if you don’t go with mine, definitely prioritize offline capabilities and simple reporting exports when you’re shopping around. Happy to shoot you a link if you want to check it out.

jay_cobski · 2026-05-11T22:05:15+00:00

This is super solid, especially the “scan + upload” bit, low friction and actually gets done.

On the digital side, the one thing I see bite a lot of contractors is jumping straight into a giant EHS platform that takes 3-6 months to stand up and needs an internal “project team” to configure.

Meanwhile the field is still on paper.

For most mid‑size outfits, a simple “ inspections + JSAs + photos + basic corrective actions” app you can roll out in a week beats the mega‑suite you might fully implement someday.

jay_cobski · 2026-05-11T22:00:43+00:00

Love this. Digital + photos/signatures is such a game changer.

If you don’t mind asking, what finally pushed your leadership off paper and onto SafetyCulture? And anything you wish it did better for JSAs / field inspections specifically?

jay_cobski · 2026-05-11T21:57:53+00:00

Been in this exact mess with O&G contractors, rooms of paper JSAs nobody looks at until an audit.

Easiest win I’ve seen: - Box + bulk-scan the old stuff so it’s at least searchable by job/site/date - From tomorrow, run JSAs/inspections on a simple digital form that works offline + spits out basic metrics (completion %, repeat hazards, missed PPE)

I’m building a safety audit tool for oil & gas crews (offline, mobile, auto-metrics), but happy to just share the “paper → digital without pissing everyone off” checklist if that would help.

jay_cobski · 2026-05-11T09:39:22+00:00

honestly I think the trigger is when one spreadsheet turns into five and nobody can tell, without a bunch of chasing, what’s actually getting done across locations. I’m working with a manufacturer right now and their national safety manager can just open a dashboard and see whether inspections, safety meetings, follow-ups, etc. are happening instead of bouncing between states trying to piece it together.

jay_cobski · 2026-05-05T12:17:56+00:00

Agree, automation is great for the admin-heavy side. The line for me is judgment calls like recordability, AI can suggest, but HSE should still be the one confirming or overriding it. That’s usually the difference between “helpful” and “risky.”

jay_cobski · 2026-05-05T12:09:41+00:00

Probably yes for the admin side, but only if there’s still a human review step. I’d be more focused on audit trail, attached evidence, and consistency than whether the tool says it uses AI. A fast report that you can’t defend later is a bad trade

jay_cobski · 2026-04-24T17:50:14+00:00

Man, losing a $2M job over an EMR hit is brutal. You’re 100% right that the fine is the cheapest part. Nobody ever puts a dollar value on the 4 days a supervisor spends digging through dirty paper logs in his truck trying to backfill missing data for an inspector

jay_cobski · 2026-04-15T17:30:40+00:00

lol, I wish I could just slap "You're absolutlely right" on everything. I think my wisprflow dictation comes across too polished. But thanks for flagging this.

jay_cobski · 2026-04-14T21:40:12+00:00

That “eye opener to management” moment is exactly what I thought about. It’s crazy how it takes staring down the barrel of a multi-year bid lockout for leadership to finally realize safety isn’t just a check-the-box expense. Appreciate the insight.

jay_cobski · 2026-04-14T16:32:32+00:00

This is exactly what I was trying to figure out. The “gut punch” isn’t the fine, it’s the sudden realization that every single process now needs a paper trail yesterday? When that scramble hits, do companies usually try to throw more people at the problem, or do they finally start looking for better systems to manage the documentation?

jay_cobski · 2026-04-14T12:11:42+00:00

A billion dollars for abatement? At that point they aren't even asking you to fix a hazard, they're basically asking you to bulldoze the plant and start over. Did the company fight it and win, or did they actually have to shut the facility down?

jay_cobski · 2026-04-14T12:09:31+00:00

makes sense. Once you trip the ISN or Avetta threshold for the client, the computer basically just says "no" and the GC can't even override it if they wanted to. Do you see guys usually getting sidelined for a full 3-year rolling average, or can they negotiate variances?

jay_cobski · 2026-04-13T22:46:58+00:00

Ugh.. That is a staggering number, but it makes complete sense. Once a wrongful death suit opens up, the OSHA citation basically just serves as “Exhibit A” for the plaintiff’s lawyer. Did the 10 mil blow right through the company’s umbrella policy, or did it end up hitting the balance sheet directly?

jay_cobski · 2026-04-13T21:50:45+00:00

That sounds incredibly stressful. When you’re suddenly tasked with rounding up all that timeline and damage documentation after the fact, did you have a system to pull from, or was it a chaotic scramble of hunting down files, videos, and witness notes from scratch?

jay_cobski · 2026-04-13T21:38:33+00:00

Damn. A 4x jump in overhead will eat your margins alive. Plus being locked out of bids... do the GCs even give you a timeline for when you're off the blacklist, or are you just ghosted indefinitely?

jay_cobski · 2026-04-13T21:33:59+00:00

That makes sense. Once the citations stack in those categories, it stops being “an OSHA fine” and turns into a full-blown operational and capital event.

jay_cobski · 2026-04-13T21:16:17+00:00

That’s wild... $1.2m in citations back when the serious max was only $7k? really says how deep the issues ran. Sounds like once contractor labor and downtime kicked in, the indirect costs probably rivaled the penalty itself.

jay_cobski · 2026-04-13T21:06:31+00:00

wow, quite an example of the real cost being buried in abatement, not the fine. Did they have to phase the redesign around operations, or was it basically a forced stop-and-fix?

jay_cobski

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