With organizations beginning to resume their operations despite the continued danger that the COVID-19 pandemic presents, creating a safe workplace for employees is vital, according to trusted-identity solutions provider HID Global, and is driving the need to automate approaches for managing social distancing and conducting contact tracing. The company has thus announced additions to its HID Location Services IoT ecosystem, intended to streamline the process of managing these protocols, and to ensure compliance with federal, state and local requirements regarding workplace exposure to the coronavirus.
HID’s Location Services for Workplace Safety physical-distancing application employs the company’s Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based BEEKS Aware fobs, which can alert employees if they come within 6 feet (1.8 meters) of each other for a specified span of time. The contact-tracing application uses the same BEEKS Aware fob, or a BEEKS badge or badge holder, which can be added to existing ID cards, thereby providing a digital trail of a worker’s whereabouts and historical interactions onsite. This, the company reports, makes it possible to rapidly respond to outbreaks and activate isolation procedures. The physical-distancing application is currently being piloted and adopted by healthcare institutions and enterprise organizations worldwide, HID reports.
“Digitally managing social distancing is critical to encouraging the necessary behavioral shifts that will create a safer and more secure environment to which employees feel comfortable returning to work,” said Mark Robinton, HID’s VP of IoT services and identification technologies, in a prepared statement. “Our goal with HID Location Services for Workplace Safety is to use our established IoT ecosystem to help organizations restore productivity with confidence by making it easier for everyone to adjust to workplace physical distancing and taking the manual leg-work out of contact tracing.”
Using the system, employers can define distancing policies and alert parameters. Zones can be created via geofences around high-traffic areas, such as break rooms, hallways and lobbies, in order to minimize large congregations of people. The BEEKS Aware BLE fobs are issued to employees, visitors and contractors, which they would then carry with them while on the premises. Using peer-to-peer capabilities, the fob will flash and sound a brief audible alert if anyone comes within 6 feet for more than 2 minutes (or some other duration configured by an administrator).
A detailed reporting function enables contact tracing using historical data regarding movements and interactions, so as to trigger safety protocols. For standalone contact tracing, employers can couple that functionality with existing employee ID badges. According to HID, the system can be up and running within hours, with no integration required.
This includes fast set-up using the company’s BEEKS devices, secure Bluzone cloud-based software, and BluFi or other gateways. Immediate access to real-time analytics provides location data, such as interaction type and contact duration, including start and end times. The system utilizes existing enterprise networks or Bluetooth over Wi-Fi network connectivity and cloud services, HID explains, with no additional infrastructure, hardware or network wiring necessary.
HID says its Location Services solution has already been deployed by several companies for the purpose of managing building occupancy, optimizing office and facility space, tracking assets and monitoring equipment health. The workplace-safety additions can be scaled and adapted to meet the requirements of hospitals, manufacturing facilities and enterprise organizations, while the real-time monitoring and analytics capabilities can help organizations ensure compliance with other safety requirements, such as hand-hygiene policies. Additional IoT applications can also be added, all centrally managed on a single platform.