New Solution Promises Safe, Sustainable and Secure Worksites by Helping Reduce Incidents, Injuries and Fatalities
LEHI, Utah and HOUSTON, Jan. 30, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Avetta®, the leading provider of supply chain risk management (SCRM) software, today announced AskAva, the industry’s first generative AI-powered risk assistant that will accelerate contractor compliance and advance contractor safety and sustainability.
Unlike other solutions that run AI models over external datasets, AskAva is built on a new AI engine embedded in the platform, combining Avetta’s proprietary data with ChatGPT. AskAva adds more capabilities to Avetta’s award-winning Connect platform, enabling global organizations to automate contractor risk management at scale while educating their supply chain vendors about safety best practices.
In the United States, the contractor-to-employee ratio has increased 63% since 2019. In Europe, contractor positions surged 24% in 2022. Additionally, 60-70% of contracted work is outsourced to subcontractors. However, contractors represent a growing, disproportionate number of incidents, injuries and fatalities at worksites. Compared to their full-time counterparts, supply chain contractors typically have less safety resources and inadequate safety systems. AskAva works as a personalized safety assistant, leveraging generative AI to help large organizations reduce accidents in their supply chain.
“We have entered a new age of using AI to solve some of the most complex supply chain risk problems for our global customers,” said Arshad Matin, CEO of Avetta. “We made the investment in Avetta several years ago to build a modern, secure and global SaaS platform. This foundation has enabled us to leverage innovations like generative AI to meet our customers’ current and future needs.”
A powerful addition to Avetta One’s existing suite of contractor risk products, AskAva will empower clients and suppliers to access safety data and recommendations through interactive prompts in the Avetta product. Global organizations will use the Avetta platform to deploy risk assessments to contractors before conducting high-risk work, such as transporting hazardous materials, working around heavy equipment or working at heights. Based on the user’s prompts, AskAva generates suggestions to third-party vendors on what types of risk practices can be used to avoid an incident. Data will be available in Avetta’s secure platform, ensuring confidentiality and privacy of sensitive data.
“Contractor incident rates are rising due to labor shortages, the rapid growth of using contractors and the complex social issues that exist in the supply chain,” said Taylor Allis, CPO at Avetta. “Since enterprises typically use methods that are no longer as effective in reducing contractor risk, new solutions like AskAva are needed to reinvent how supply chain risk is managed.”
AskAva is currently available to beta customers with general availability planned for Q2 2024. Avetta is actively working with customers and industry experts to design new AI-based solutions, as well as designing guidance on how to use AI ethically, efficiently and productively. Avetta has designed a robust roadmap of new AI-powered solutions for the contractor risk industry, including Health & Safety, ESG & Sustainability, Business Risk and Cybersecurity.
