Workplace health and safety have become of utmost concern as society emerges from quarantine and work-from-home situations. COVID-19 has caused us to view areas that we live, work, and play in from a completely different perspective. Many of us are now hyper-aware of the potential hazards associated with the surfaces we touch and the individuals we come into contact with. This hyper-awareness comes with an underlying fear that has individuals questioning whether or not an organization is taking proper precautions and if it is worth the risk to enter the facility.
Organizations must rise to the occasion and do their best to ensure their employees, customers, and visitors that they are taking the necessary steps to ensure their safety while they are on-site. While automation is helpful, it is people that are fundamental to the success of every organization, that is why it is so important to design spaces and environments that individuals are comfortable entering. There are many steps that organizations can take to ensure the safety and peace of mind of individuals who occupy their facilities. In this blog, we will focus on five of the most important actions organizations can take to create a safer facility following COVID-19.
1. Temperature Screening:
Fever is the most common symptom of COVID-19, but thankfully it is also one of the easiest to detect. Because of this, many organizations have begun measuring the temperature of each individual before granting them access to the facility. It is highly necessary to ensure that individuals exhibiting potential COVID-19 symptoms are not able to enter the facility. However, paying employees to manually take temperatures all day is not an efficient use of resources. Additionally, manually collecting temperatures creates another point of contact, increasing the risk of potential exposure.
HelixSense enables organizations to completely automate the temperature screening process allowing them to increase efficiency, accuracy, and most importantly, the safety of their employees, visitors, and customers. HelixSense has Advanced Thermal Imaging technology that empowers organizations to rapidly scan individuals and large groups to instantly identify individuals with elevated temperatures. If an elevated temperature is identified, HelixSense will automatically send alerts to defined groups with a built-in escalation matrix, allowing you to quickly restrict access and/or promptly isolate the individual(s) to avoid potential exposure. All data is collected and displayed in the integrated HelixSense platform enabling organizations to utilize closed-loop processes that provide feedback to achieve preferred outcomes. With HelixSense you can ensure you are following all guidelines without losing productivity or putting your staff at risk to exposure.
2. Occupancy Monitoring:
Social Distancing is another obstacle that COVID-19 has presented to organizations all over the globe. There is an abundance of precautions that organizations must consider as they contemplate how to safely reopen their facilities to workers, customers, and visitors. Some of these include entry and exit counting, setting maximum occupancy levels, monitoring social distancing, and identifying highly trafficked areas. Finding the resources to carry out these tasks can be challenging, especially for organizations relying on a limited workforce for the time being.
HelixSense allows organizations to automate these processes so that they can improve accuracy and safety while freeing up human resources for other operational tasks. HelixSense provides the following solutions to manage building occupancy:
Entry & Exit Counting
HelixSense installs sensors at every entrance and exit point in the facility to provide a precise count of real-time building occupancy. Our sensors automate occupancy counting to eliminate the risk of human error, but more importantly, to eliminate an unnecessary point of contact between your staff and those entering and exiting the facility.
Real-time Occupancy Control
Using the highly-accurate and real-time data from entry and exit sensors, organizations can leverage the HelixSense integrated platform to efficiently manage occupancy. Organizations can set maximum occupancy levels for a specific room or for the entire facility allowing them to restrict access once a threshold has been breached.
Social Distance Monitoring
Knowing the occupancy level of your facility is the first step to enhancing the safety of individuals on-site, the next step is to ensure that all social distancing guidelines are being followed. HelixSense leverages Geofencing to detect the precise location of each individual that is on-site to ensure social distancing guidelines are being followed at all times. Geofencing also enables real-time Contact Tracing allowing organizations to quickly identify all areas and individuals that a potentially infected person came into contact with.
Occupancy Status
Keep employees, visitors, and customers informed with visual alerts and warnings suggesting when occupancy limits are breached or when it is safe to enter. Leverage outward-facing digital screens to display occupancy status and to coordinate queuing and waiting times for those trying to enter the facility. Occupancy status is broken down into three categories, green is safe to enter, yellow is approaching the threshold, and red is beyond the threshold, at which point access is restricted.
Email & Push Notifications
Every piece of data collected by HelixSense sensors is stored in the centralized platform. Within this platform, facility managers can set custom thresholds and configure an escalation matrix to promptly notify appropriate individuals when a threshold has been breached or when an action is required. Due to the urgency of these matters, HelixSense also allows managers to track the resolution actions taken to ensure they are handled properly and as quickly as possible.
3. Indoor Air Quality
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor levels of pollution can be two to five times higher than outdoor levels. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) should always be monitored, but it is even more critical today with an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is thought that the COVID-19 virus can spread “through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.” HelixSense Wellness Sensors measure the IAQ within and around facilities to improve the health and well-being of all occupants. HelixSense applies fundamental principles of thermodynamics and building physics (humidity, airflow, differential pressurization), smart controls to trigger operations, and economic ventilation and filtration technologies to mitigate the presence and spread of potential pathogens and allergens.
4. Ultraviolet Disinfection
Proper disinfection and sanitization have become essential as organizations start the process of reopening their facilities. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, organizations are experiencing rising fears of contagion and confusion over appropriate containment strategies. As a response, organizations have increased both the frequency and thoroughness of their sanitization efforts, but even that may not always be enough. The International Ultraviolet Association (IUVA) believes that UV disinfection technologies can play a role in a multiple barrier approach to reducing the transmission of the virus causing COVID-19. UV light has been used extensively for more than 40 years to disinfect water, air, medical equipment, and other surfaces by damaging the DNA replication system of bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
HelixSense has an extensive suite of UV disinfection products that have the ability to self-report information back to a centralized platform. By leveraging HelixSense UV disinfection products, organizations can begin to automate sanitization to ensure the safety of everyone on-site while minimizing the risk of exposure for inhouse cleaning personnel. With HelixSense, you can combine UV products with your existing cleaning systems to establish a semi-automated, multiple disinfectant approach.
The HelixSense suite of UV disinfection products:
Walk-in Gate/Tunnel
Protect the occupants of your facility with a HelixSense Walk-in Gate/Tunnel to ensure everyone is completely disinfected before entering the premises.
Handheld Sanitizer:
Rapidly sanitize workstations, equipment, offices, packages, and other frequently contacted areas with a HelixSense Handheld UVC Sanitizer.
Disinfection Box
Small personal items, like phones, headphones, keyboards, etc., harbor over 20,000 different types of bacteria. Safely eliminate them all with a HelixSense UVC Disinfection Box.
Conveyor Track
Rapidly sanitize everyday use items in large volumes immediately as individuals enter your facility with the HelixSense UVC Conveyor Track.
Foot Mat
The HelixSense Foot Mat is a hands-free and chemical-free disinfection solution that kills up to 99% of exposed organisms on the tops and soles of shoes in just 5 seconds.
Space Disinfection Unit
Instantly eradicate germs in large spaces, such as meeting rooms, bathrooms, or lobbies, with The HelixSense High Power UVC Space Disinfection Unit.
5. Intelligent Cleaning
While highly-necessary, keeping up with the proper cleaning protocols of COVID-19 is a daunting and expensive task. To maximize efficiency and effectiveness in a time of partial occupancy, facility managers will need to align cleaning procedures with real-time demand. HelixSense sensors provide an accurate representation of true space utilization in the workplace. HelixSense will then intelligently trigger automated cleaning procedures or identify the appropriate personnel if a manual service is required. From the centralized HelixSense platform, managers can restrict reservations and access to particular areas and work spaces that require cleaning.
