As we move forward toward the re-opening of the economy and physical workplaces, many health and safety considerations will need to be made.
Are you ready for the new normal?
Virtually all medical professionals — and medical bodies from America’s Centers for Disease Control to the World Health Organization — emphatically say contact tracing is a crucial part of the three-pronged plan for returning the world to normal: test, trace, isolate.
What is contact tracing?
Contact tracing is about identifying, informing, and monitoring people who might have come in contact with a person who has been diagnosed with an infectious disease. It starts with a positive test and involves tracking down anyone that person had contact with so they can be informed they might have been infected.
While it is traditionally a labour-intensive process done by healthcare professionals, an Active RFID real-time locating sys tem (RTLS) is a tracing technology that can improve the process in the workplace by eliminating ambiguity.
Instead of trying to recall everyone with whom an infected person had close contact with while they may have been infectious, RTLS uses its breadcrumb trail capability to report all connections. By automating the contact tracing process, organizations gain accurate, up-to-date exposure lists.
With GuardRFID’s active RFID RTLS technology, organizations can scale up their monitoring strategies in other ways such as path, location, and room tracing.
What is path tracing?
Path tracing is about reducing contact incidents by controlling traffic flow. By monitoring up and down stairwells and directional pathways, organizations can ensure staff are complying with the new routes. The system can either alert users if they are not following the pathways or create reports for review.
RTLS technology is also perfectly suited for time and attendance reporting. The solution can provide real-time automatic roll call of employees on-site at any time. Plus, the technology integrates with payroll system and provides time-stamped entry and exit reports.
What is location tracing?
Location tracing is about controlling, documenting, and coordinating material, people, and object flows through your facility. Using the breadcrumb trail capability, monitor where employees and visitors are and restrict access to safeguard certain areas.
If you have staff working alone, location tracing offers an easy and accurate way to know they are safe. With two-way notification and man-down alarming, you can promise maximum security and compliance.
You can also track mandatory equipment and supplies. Raise alarms or lock doors if assets are moved outside of secured areas.
What is room tracing?
Room tracing is about setting and maintaining thresholds and capacities in high traffic areas and rooms to ensure social distancing can be maintained. By integrating a red/green light system, you can automatically alert people when a room is at capacity or if it is open to access.
The system can also help with sanitation. By monitoring usage between cleanings, staff can be alerted when a threshold is met.
Hands-free access
In addition to contact, path, location, and room tracing, RTLS technology can also provide hands-free access to your facility. By integrating a RTLS system with existing access control, automatic door openers can be triggered and contact points reduced. No need for swipe cards, turnstiles or touch panels.
The same technology can also be used to schedule employee access making it easier to manage the number of people in your facility at one time.
Returning to work
A study conducted by Qualtrics CoreXM found that two out of three people (66%) are not comfortable going back to the workplace right now. By using technology, organizations can take appropriate action to help employees feel confident during this next phase of the pandemic.
Using a RTLS system to monitor activity also eliminates the need for people to police each other in the workplace. It’s a practical way to get your employees onboard with RTLS.
GuardRFID’s active RFID real-time location system can play a critical role in helping businesses adapt to these new requirements and to see a path forward. Contact us for a no-obligation consultation with one of our RTLS experts and see if your organization might be eligible for a complimentary system design.
