Intelex Technologies: Learning from the Past, Understanding the Present and Evolving to Meet the Future

With 30 years of EHSQ experience, Intelex understands how health and safety, quality, environment and sustainability, ESG, and risk management can save lives, protect the planet, and help your business through difficult times. Our story began in Bhopal in 1984, during one of the worst industrial disasters ever. Forty years later, in 2022, the world is recovering from another major tragedy: the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“We can’t manage what we don’t measure, and for 30 years, Intelex has been helping companies collect and analyze the data that helps them protect employees and the environment,” said Intelex President Melissa Hammerle.

“As workplace deaths have steadily decreased and the practice of EHSQ has evolved and ESG has become more important to shareholders, Intelex remains a leader in supporting the management systems of companies around the world. While zero workplace deaths by 2050 is an ambitious goal, it is within sight and everyone at Intelex is proud to play a small part in reaching that goal.”

At Intelex, we know how important it is for you and your organization to keep improving by building a culture that makes the workplace safer, boosts productivity, protects the environment, and supports excellence.

As your needs have changed, from using paper spreadsheets to managing large amounts of EHSQ data that track everything from near misses to product defects and greenhouse gases, Intelex has updated our technology and software to help you meet these challenges.

The Intelex founder story

Picture yourself asleep at night when a cloud of toxic gas drifts across fields and highways, slips over rooftops, and enters through your open window. You wake up gasping for air, possibly for the last time, struggling to breathe.

That’s exactly what happened to hundreds of thousands of people in December 1984, when a methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, exposed more than half a million people to the toxic gas. Thousands were killed – an estimated 2,259 immediately upon exposure – with many more dying in the following days. There was even a Netflix show about it.

Intelex Technologies was founded in response to that tragedy. As we mark our 30th anniversary on February 15, 1992, I want to share some of our history and discuss how Intelex has helped develop technology that protects both employees and the environment.

From tragedy to new EHS technology

A few years after the Bhopal disaster, the industrial gases division of Union Carbide, then known as Linde, realized their paper-based EHS management system was not enough for their growing operations. Linde asked Intelex co-founder Ted Grunau to create a DOS-based system to help manage their EHS information.

Soon after, Grunau and partner Andy Jaine were granted the right to re-sell the technology to other companies. The company grew from there.

Intelex Technologies started in 1992, and two key moments helped us grow: moving to a cloud-based system in 2000 and creating iForms (now called Application Builder) in 2005.

These changes let companies access their data from anywhere with an Internet connection. The software was flexible, so organizations could adapt it to their existing processes and expand their Safety and Quality Management Systems as their businesses changed.

Zero workplace deaths by 2050

According to the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, between 1980 and 1984, the average occupational fatality rate in the United States was about 8.8 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers. The latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 3.4 fatalities per 100,000 FTE workers in 2020. Over 50 years, this rate has dropped by 64 percent.

Intelex does not claim credit for the drop in workplace fatalities, but this trend shows how much occupational health and safety has improved over the past 50 years, likely thanks in part to technology. That is why our mission is now focused on eliminating workplace deaths by 2050.

Take an EHS journey with us

What does the future of EHSQ look like? We believe data and technology will not just play a part, but will help reshape the field, making goals like zero workplace deaths by 2050 possible.

Today, health and safety, quality, and ESG professionals have access to more data than ever.

Intelex supports 1,400 companies and millions of users worldwide, helping them analyze and use this important information to create safer, cleaner, and more efficient products and processes for customers, employees, and communities.

To truly understand the data you collect, remember that it is more than just numbers.

Each data point reflects a behavior or decision made by someone in your organization. Every workplace injury or illness is more than a statistic on your OSHA log or RIDDOR report.

It affects an employee — a person you may have greeted in the hallway, shared a meal with, or laughed with. Employees are the core of our businesses and our most important stakeholders.

“The goal of the video was to illustrate that regardless of how technology has evolved over time and changed how EHSQ professionals operate, people and their behaviors are still the source of all this data that has been generated,” says Intelex Creative Manager Mike Thompson, who created the video (and provided the voiceover). “What we want people to take away, especially in this era of ESG, is how Intelex can help organizations turn this information into positive action; economically, socially and environmentally.”

CloudTweaks estimates that at least 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created every day (that is 2.5 with 18 zeros). This includes everything from NASA’s space monitoring to your daughter’s Instagram photos. On average, companies manage 162.9 terabytes of data, depending on their size (that is 1629 with 10 zeros).

Intelex can help you translate all the data you collect into actionable business intelligence that you can use to continuously improve and evolve your programs, processes and culture, protecting your business now and well into the future.