HID Global empowers workplaces to safely re-open thanks to IoT ecosystem

The new HID Location Services for Workplace Safety physical distancing application leverages Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) HID BEEKS Aware fobs that alert employees when they’re closer than two metres for a specified period of time.

The physical distancing application is currently being piloted and adopted by major healthcare institutions and enterprise organisations.

For its part, the new contact tracing application uses the same HID BEEKS Aware fob or a BEEKS badge/badge holder that’s easily added to existing ID cards, in turn providing a full digital trail of a given employee’s whereabouts and historical interactions while at work. This makes it possible to rapidly respond to cases and activate isolation procedures as needed.

“Digitally managing social distancing is critical to encouraging the necessary behavioural shifts that will create a safer and more secure environment such that employees feel comfortable returning to work,” explained Mark Robinton, vice-president of IoT Services and Identification Technologies at HID Global. “Our goal with HID Location Services for Workplace Safety is to use our established IoT ecosystem to assist organisations in restoring productivity with confidence by making it easier for everyone to adjust to workplace physical distancing. We also wanted to take the manual leg-work out of contact tracing.”

How the solution works

Employers define distancing policies and alert parameters. Zones can be created with geo-fences around high-traffic areas (ie breakrooms, hallways and lobby/foyer areas) to minimise large congregations of people.

HID BEEKS Aware BLE fobs are issued to employees, visitors and contractors to carry while at work. Using peer-to-peer capabilities, the fob will flash and sound a brief audible alert when employees are within two metres for more than two minutes (or as configured by the administrator).

With a click of a button, detailed reporting enables contact tracing using historical data on movement and interactions in order to trigger safety protocols. For standalone contact tracing, employers can couple the functionality with existing employee ID badges.

Fast set-up is enabled using HID BEEKS devices, secure HID Bluzone Cloud Software and HID Blu-Fi/ other gateways. There’s immediate access to real-time analytics that include location data such as interaction type and contact duration (including start and end times).

The solution makes great use of existing enterprise networks or Bluetooth over Wi-Fi network connectivity and cloud services to simplify implementation. No additional infrastructure, hardware or network wiring is needed on site.

Proven IoT ecosystem

The latest workplace safety additions to HID Global Location Services underscore the IoT ecosystem’s ability to quickly scale and adapt to the dynamic requirements of today’s hospitals, manufacturing facilities and enterprise organisations, etc. Its real-time time monitoring and analytics capabilities can help ensure compliance with a number of other safety requirements, among them hand hygiene policies and additional regulations introduced as part of the ‘new normal’.

Organisations are able to leverage their investment beyond the current global health crisis since HID Location Services lays the foundation to easily add even more IoT applications, all of which can be centrally managed on a single platform.