February 2021

10 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk February 2021 Insight I f you are planning to reopen your business or, indeed, have already done so but are looking at reviewing your safety measures to protect staff and visitors from COVID-19, no doubt you will already have put in place the more basic measures, such as extra cleaning, sanitation stations, 2m distance markings etc. However, you may not have considered using your security systems to assist in making your business safer. Electronic security is prevalent throughout business premises, most frequently used to deter crime and keep people out of places they shouldn’t be. These systems are often multi-functional and may be leveraged to reinforce COVID-19 workplace policies and mitigate health, safety and security risks. Maintaining social distancing We are all now familiar with the 2m social distancing rule and all businesses will have put in place measures to make people aware of this, such as markings on the floor. In some cases, you may need to monitor this to ensure the distancing is being observed. Manned guarding is an option, but it’s expensive and adds to the number of people in the area. An alternative is to use CCTV video analytics software for footfall counting and / or crowd video analytics to identify when people are congregating in too small an area. The systems can generate an alert at a pre-set threshold and an operative can then communicate with those people advising them to move apart or away from the area. Elevated temperature detection Thermal cameras can have a role to play in helping prevent the spread of COVID-19 but they are not medical devices and cannot diagnose COVID 19. They are solely able to identify and alert users to someone who has an elevated temperature. This could be for a number of reasons, so you must put in place a well-defined protocol for dealing with a potentially unwell person. Don’t forget that many people with the virus are asymptomatic, so a thermal camera will not help in these instances. Access denied For staff who should be self-isolating, it’s essential they do not come into the workplace. An electronic access control system is the obvious solution here but ensure it’s one that’s easy to manage. You need to be able to instantly, but temporarily, remove access rights to an individual as soon as you have been informed of their health status. A cloud-based system is a good option as this can be done securely from afar. The new guidance provides recommendations for managing contacts, including limiting visitor times to a specific time window, restricting access to required visitors only and keeping a record of visitors. An access control system can readily achieve all of this with minimum fuss. Look, don’t touch Government guidance specifies that you should be ‘providing alternatives to touch-based COVID-19: Enhancing workplace safety Matthew Marriott* looks at how electronic security can enhance workplace safety during the pandemic.