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Client Overview

Company: A leading UK discount retailer.
Industry: Retail (Discount/Value).

Size: 130+ stores nationwide.

Challenge Area: Health & Safety Compliance and Incident Management
Solution Stack: Microsoft Power Apps, Power Automate, SharePoint Online, Outlook

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The Challenge

The client relies was experiencing several issues with their legacy paper-based accident reporting system.

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• Delayed reporting from stores led to compliance risks and missed deadlines.

• Supporting materials (CCTV, photos, statements) were often lost or scattered.

• Health & Safety (H&S) Managers had limited oversight of incidents across regions.

• Involving insurers was a manual, error-prone process.

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Objectives

• Digitise and standardise the accident/incident reporting process across all stores.

• Enable staff to capture supporting materials (photos, statements, signatures, etc.) in one place.

• Ensure real-time alerts for H&S Managers upon submission.

• Track investigations and decisions centrally.

• Allow easy, secure submission of full reports to the insurance company.

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Solution Overview

 

Power App: Store Incident Reporting

A user-friendly Power App was deployed to all store back office devices.

• Key Features:

  • Capture full incident details, including:

    • Type, date/time, location

    • Injured person details

    • Description of incident

  • Witness statements

  • Capture and upload CCTV footage, photos, and documents

  • In-app signature collection for store manager and injured person

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Power Automate Workflow

Several flows orchestrate the process from submission to escalation.

• On Submission:

  • Store report and files securely

  • Notify the Health & Safety Manager via email

  • Log incident in a central SharePoint list for visibility and tracking

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• Investigation Trigger:

  • H&S Manager reviews submission in Power App

  • If investigation required, clicks ‘Start Investigation’

  • Investigation notes, findings, actions, and follow-ups are logged directly in the app

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• Insurance Company Submission:

  • If applicable, H&S Manager clicks ‘Send to Insurer’

  • All related documents and metadata are compiled

  • Email with secure download link sent to insurance contact automatically

 

Deployment

• Reports were published to Power BI Service.

• Scheduled refreshes via gateway every 2 hours.

• Role-level security (RLS) ensured:

  • Managers only saw the information that is for meant for them

  • Finance saw portfolio-wide insights

  • Board had visibility to executive level kpi's and financial information.

 

Results

• Compliance

  • Reporting time reduced from 'days' to under 30 minutes

• Oversight

  • H&S team gained real-time visibility across all 130+ stores

• Efficiency

  • Manual collation of documents eliminated – now one-click export

• Accuracy

  • More complete reports with photos, signatures, and witness input

• Responsiveness

  • Investigation decisions made within hours, not days

• Insurance Processing

  • Documentation to insurers is now instant and standardised

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Key Components

• Power Apps (Canvas App)

  • Front-end for reporting and investigation

• Power Automate

  • Notifications, data orchestration, and document bundling

• SharePoint Online

  • Central storage of structured data

• Outlook

  • Integration - Real-time alerting for decision-makers

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Next Steps

• Added analytics dashboard in Power BI to track trends by region, store, or type of incident.

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Testimonial

"This app has transformed how we handle incidents. It’s faster, clearer, and gives us total peace of mind. We're not just ticking boxes — we're protecting our people better.”

 

Health & Safety Manager - Value Retail

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