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14 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON
AU T UMN 20 1 7
A Queensland-based start-up is
aiming to short circuit red tape
for sparkies.
Kurt Alexander is a man on
a mission to modernise safety
certification for electrical
contractors, simplifying red tape
and making life easier for the 35,000
licensed sparkies in Queensland.
In partnership with the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry Queensland
(CCIQ) and start-up ‘accelerator’
BlueChilli, Kurt has developed
QuickSafety, a mobile application
that enables electricians to complete
safety certificates quickly and easily
on their mobile device, securely
storing the completed certificates
for access by the electrician, the
company and regulatory bodies for
five years.
“It’s hard to believe, but electricians
around Australia still have to fill
out paper-based electrical safety
certificates each time they complete
a job,” says Kurt, who has been
working out of the Collaborate hub
in Brisbane.
“This is frustrating for the
electrician, a huge admin overhead
for the business, and exposes both
the electrician and the business to
regulatory risk due to incomplete and
lost certificates, or failure to store
certificates for the required five-
year period.”
QuickSafety solves this problem
and has just released its first version
of the QuickSafety App into the
Apple AppStore.
“It was a huge day for QuickSafety
and seeing our app go live was a huge
milestone. We’ve gone from a concept
to a fully working product in less than
seven months,” he said.
Developed through Collaborate,
an initiative of CCIQ, BlueChilli and
Suncorp Bank, QuickSafety is one
of the first cohort of Suncorp Bank
#SmallBusinessChallenges winners,
a competition that ran in February
2016 to find start-up ideas which
could solve real problems facing
small business.
Having worked in the electrical
industry since 2000, and then
consulting back to the industry in
2009, it was dealing with clients’
frustrations that Kurt saw an
opportunity to make a difference
and alleviate the pain that sparkies
encountered on the ground.
When the opportunity came
to pitch for the Collaborate
#SmallBusinessChallenges competition,
he grabbed it with both hands.
CCIQ Collaborate general
manager James Flaherty said
it was precisely what was
envisaged from the Suncorp
Bank #SmallBusinessChallenges
competition.
“Kurt is exactly the sort of founder
and QuickSafety the perfect business
for Collaborate and our Suncorp Bank
#SmallBusinessChallenges campaign,”
James says.
“Kurt has identified a clear
problem for an industry sector and
worked to develop a simple, low cost
and easy to use solution that will
make form filling easier, quicker and
more efficient.
“That has to be good news for the
35,000 sparkies in Queensland.”
QuickSafety is now building
on this amazing start to secure
customers and to grow the profile
of the application and the story
behind what will go on to become a
successful Queensland start-up.
To find the app, search QuickSafety
in the AppStore, or visit: http://www.
quicksafety.com.au/APPYDAYSAREHEREAGAIN