SAP EHS Health & Safety Implementation for a Railway Transportation Company

The LeverX team implemented several SAP EHSM modules as Sustainability Solutions to ensure safety on different levels and a Fiori application for employee medical management.

Client

The client is an international provider of mobility and logistics services operating globally, with over 300,000 employees working for the company.

Challenge

The client needed to ensure a comprehensive health and safety environment for employees. They needed to upgrade legacy tools used to schedule employee medical appointments in SAP EHS Occupational Health. Also, improvements were needed in risk assessment processes and chemical and safety management to prevent hazardous situations.

Solution

The LeverX team performed four standalone developments for the client and managed certain extensions and improvements for existing functionalities within SAP EHS solutions.

1. Implementing a new Fiori application to schedule medical appointments for employees

In occupational health, standard appointment scheduling is often based on legacy SAP technologies, which was the client’s case. The challenge was to migrate and map legacy data structures to the S/4HANA simplified data model and use them to implement client requirements. For example, the Fiori calendar was upgraded to display available and unavailable days with green and red colors. Additionally, it suggests the first available time slot on the selected date for the new appointment.

The LeverX team implemented:

• CDS views that contain medical services and medical appointments overview
• Logic to create/delete appointments and propose relevant time slots for the appointment
• Fiori planning calendar
• The authorization concept
• Emails with PDF attachments to managers about the medical appointment results

2. Introducing a new analysis method to evaluate workplace risk levels within the standard risk assessment process

The new analysis method is based on the Easy-to-Use Workplace Control Scheme for Hazardous Substances (EMKG) provided by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA).

During the project, our team managed to:

• Extend standard business objects, representing artifacts such as chemical attributes or locations, with new elements
• Develop custom Configuration Tables for managing specific regulatory parameters according to the EMKG
• Implement risk level calculation logic within the standard risk assessment process

3. Creating a solution that uploads chemical data and safety data sheets from external resources to the client's database

The LeverX team also adapted the chemical data format from an external API database source to a data storage model on the client's side. After that, we implemented functionality to notify appropriate stakeholders of the detection of hazardous conditions, such as the changes in chemical attributes (hazard classes, hazard statements) compared to the previous chemical revision or decreased occupational exposure limits for chemicals and hazardous ingredients in the new chemical revision.

The project scope included:

• Analysis of the business and technical logic of corresponding business objects
• Implementing functionality to identify the required data format
• Creating customizable and mapping tables
• Logic implementation for creating and updating business objects’ attributes with values coming from the API
• Delivering an automation to generate emails to the responsible persons in case of detecting hazardous conditions

4. Developing new features for existing custom application solutions and adapting standard applications to meet client needs in different areas of SAP EHS

The goal was to improve and extend existing standard functionality, custom applications, and processes in such focus areas as hazardous substance management, incident management, risk management, and occupational health.

The LeverX team completed the following tasks:

• Leveraging SAP WWI and XML-based logic to generate dynamic and editable chemical labels
• Extending standard workflows within the risk assessment approval process and incident notification process
• Upgrading the chemical interface that consumes data from the external source and updates related SAP data models
• Enhancing solutions related to employees' yearly health examinations
• Expanding standard applications for managing safety instructions for chemicals, equipment, and biohazards with corresponding PDF documents

Technology Stack

We built the solution on a modern SAP application stack to provide an intuitive user experience, high availability and low-latency performance, and connection with the client’s SAP systems.

User interface: SAP Fiori

The SAP UX design solution is aimed at transforming complex enterprise tasks into role-based workflows and simplifying users’ interactions with the system.

ERP: SAP S/4HANA

The core enterprise system serves as the primary layer for all enterprise transactions.

Process automation: SAP Business Workflow

It manages the logic of business processes, automates approvals, and routes tasks.

Document creation: Adobe PDF Forms

The solution helps create and manage business documents and print forms.

Communication functionality: SAP Emails and Email Templates

The functionality is used for sending automated notifications and maintaining standardized communications.

Live insights: SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics

The solution processes data as it flows through the business and then provides instant clarity without requiring external data exports.

Legacy components and compatibility: SAP GUI, Web Dynpro (FPM, FBI)

The components support standard SAP functionality, existing client processes, and ensure compatibility with legacy UI functionality. Using the hybrid approach helps the implementation specialists leverage proven BOPF-based logic (FBI) for back-end stability.

Development languages: ABAP and ABAP OO

The languages are applied for SAP backend development, creating business logic, and application enhancements.

Results

As a result of the implementation of a new complex solution, the Medical Appointment Calendar now helps the client apply preventive measures for employees' physical and mental health.

• There is an overview of a specific location's risk levels for responsible users.
• The client receives comprehensive chemical data, including hazard classes, hazard statements, hazardous ingredients, physical and chemical characteristics, first aid and firefighting measures, and local regulatory information.
• The obtained chemical data can be used in other solutions, such as risk analysis and chemical safety instructions.