The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over. However, as rates decline and strategies to decrease transmission strengthen, more companies are choosing to re-open their office spaces, even if at a reduced capacity.
If you’re one of these businesses, you know that it’s not a decision to be taken lightly. More than ever, it’s critical to ensure that your staff feels safe and secure at work. Though there’s no way to eliminate risks, it is easier than you think to minimize them significantly.
Of course, there’s encouraging your team to carefully follow all CDC guidelines for returning to work including:
- Regular hand washing
- Using hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol content
- Staying 6 feet apart
- Wearing face masks
- Staying home if not feeling well
- Disinfecting surfaces and objects regularly
Those precautions alone can significantly reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus at work—but they’re not the only ways. Thanks to smart and innovative technology solutions, business leaders can take an active role in securing the safety of your team, your clients, and your community.
From capacity monitoring devices to fever checking stations, here are four excellent tools that can keep any office safer from viruses and germs:
1. The Density Capacity Counter
Right now, most businesses must operate at or under a certain occupancy rate. Operating above that capacity not only increases the risk of spreading COVID. It’s also illegal under many local, state, and federal laws.
With the Density Capacity Counter, you’ll never have to think twice about how many people are inside any room or building. With Density, you’ll get a powerful people counting platform that precisely tracks how many people enter a threshold. Better yet, by using infrared lasers—and not cameras—to track movement, it’s completely anonymous.
Once installed, users will access software that monitors the number of people within a space in real-time. It will also alert users when the space is about to exceed the capacity limit. This information can be displayed on mobile devices, desktop computers, or large digital screens so that everyone can easily view the data and make smarter decisions.
2. The 4-in-1 Sanitation Station
It’s critical to follow all safety standards as laid out by the CDC and local jurisdictions. Still, even the most well-intentioned people can fall back into their old—and less sanitary—habits. It just one contagious co-worker to cause your organization to become a rapidly growing COVID hotspot.
We love the 4-in-1 Sanitation Station because it’s a powerhouse in preventing many of these potentially devastating lapses. In one stop, every person who enters the building will get a squirt of hand sanitizer, pick up masks and gloves (no excuses for forgetting), and have their temperature checked. If they’re running a fever, other staff will be alerted and that employee required to go home.
Current information is also essential in keeping staff and guests up-to-date with new procedures and guidelines. Don’t solely rely on emails that easily slip through the cracks. With the Sanitation Station, everyone who enters will view a full-color digital screen that can instantly be updated with any new announcements.
3. Temperature Reader and Entry Kiosk
By carefully controlling who comes into your business, the risk of spreading germs, viruses, or other bugs decreases. Fewer people in any space make it much easier to social distance. It also creates an opportunity for contact tracing if team members are exposed.
Especially for larger businesses, however, this can be tricky. Tools like the Fever Reader and Identity Verification Kiosk simplifies this task by checking the identity of anyone who wants to come inside. The ID check can be done via:
- Facial Recognition Entry: Upload photos of those approved for entry. Using state-of-the-art technology, the kiosk can recognize an authorized entry only to those in the system.
- Card Swipe Entry: Admit entry via a dongle, PIN, or card swipe.
- Timed Entry: Restrict entry between certain times by turning on this smart feature.
The included instant fever scanner can also check the temperatures of staff and guests in less than a second! If a fever is detected, an alert will announce that they’re barred from coming in, and a notification delivered to an administrator about the elevated temperature.
4. The Smart Locker
Working remotely is not only convenient. It encourages a healthier office environment as fewer employees are forced to gather indoors. Now, more businesses are implementing hybrid, desk-sharing workplaces due to the advantages of their staff regularly working from home—and it’s likely to become the norm even after COVID.
Still, there are serious challenges to tackle like: what do team members do with all of their stuff between days in the office? While certain objects are easily portable, items such as confidential paperwork, workplace-only devices, or other belongings employees would rather not lug back and forth? That’s where Smart Lockers come in! Designed for the modern, flexible workplace, the Smart Locker system offers staff members a secure place to store and share their belongings no matter how often or how rarely they come into the office.
With the Smart Locker, you’ll get:
- Barcode Scan Access: Unlock the locker using a unique barcode retrieved within a smartphone app.
- Cloud-Based Security: For added security, a Cloud-based surveillance system monitors the entire locker area 24/7.
- Versatile Pick-up Options: Working remote and an on-site co-worker needs access to your things? Instantly send a barcode to anyone at any time.
In short, it’s technology’s answer to your high school locker. But rather than sharing notes, you’ll be one step closer to leading a true business of the future.
No single tool can completely prevent the risk of COVID entering any space. That’s simply the world we live in right now. However, that doesn’t mean that business leaders can’t create a space where their staff and guests can rest assured that all precautions are being made. It’s one more step towards getting back to normalcy.
Want more information on any of the tools or more insights on supporting a COVID-safe work environment? We’d love to help! Schedule a quick, no-strings-attached consultation today. We’ll even throw in a $25 Amazon gift card just for connecting.
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over. However, as rates decline and strategies to decrease transmission strengthen, more companies are choosing to re-open their office spaces, even if at a reduced capacity. Connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn and keep up with my company imageOne. Check out my website or some of my other work here.
