Former Mater Dei student Mitch Harmer started SignOnSite in 2013 with fellow Wagga local Alexandria Garlan after a friend told them of a low-tech problem in the construction industry.

Workplace health and safety rules require builders to keep a log of who is on a construction site at any time, but traditional paper-based systems are slow and easy to get wrong.

Mr Harmer, who had worked for Apple as a mobile business specialist, thought there had to be a way to make an app that could automate the sign on process.

“The paper sign-in register can be a pain to manage so our app essentially uses location services to automatically detect when a person arrives and when they leave,” Mr Harmer said.

“That way, companies can have a complete overview of who’s on site and not worry about that piece of paper.”

For close to a decade, mobile app platforms like Apple and Android have allowed people to innovate quickly and cheaply, leading to a new boom in digital inventions. Just as Apple was preparing to launch its first iPhone in 2007, one of Mr Harmer’s school teachers told him he would one day create his own job.

“I didn’t know what she meant at the time, but the way things are going now there’s so much information readily available that a 16-year-old kid could drive their own future,” Mr Harmer said.

“If they learn to code it’s kind of like magic, they can solve their own problems and this skillset allows them to think about the world in different ways.

“A lot of the foundation has been laid now to make it easier to focus on solving problems we face, it’s quite amazing and it’s exciting for the future.”

In addition to automating the sign-on register, Mr Harmer’s app allows workers to get a daily briefing when they get to work, telling them about potential new hazards. It also lets supervisors issue an evacuation warning that goes to each individual worker, which they can check off digitally as they leave the site.

“I really believe technology shouldn’t get in the way –  it should make life easier, not harder,” Mr Harmer said. “We can get people to work quicker, they can get on with doing what they do best.”