Best Practices For Using Digital IDs For COVID-19 Response In Construction

 

While many businesses across the United States have been shut down due to Coronavirus, the construction industry is in full swing.  Because we need to keep our job-sites open and keep everyone employed, responding effectively to the threat of COVID-19 is of utmost importance.  An infected job-site most likely needs to close down, and that can result in huge issues, both financial and legal, for all parties involved.

 

This article talks about best practices that we have helped with our partners and clients around using digital ID badges to help identify possible COVID-19 symptoms, enforce 10 person limits in construction zones, and perform contact tracing in the event an infected person is identified.

 

Identifying Possible Symptoms Before Arriving On-Site

Our clients are issuing digital IDs to every worker who arrives on-site, including employees, contractors, visitors, and owners.  This presents the ability to pre-screen any badge-holder: every day before arriving on-site, each worker must fill out a short questionnaire that confirms whether or not they have any symptoms, have traveled with anyone else recently, and if they generally feel good enough to work.  By having badge-holders self report their status it is possible to identify any possible issues before they can spread, and provide liability protection for the construction owner or general contractor. A record of each badge-holders self certification is available to management at all times.

 

Enforce 10 Person Limits In Job-Zones

It can be really tough for workers to remember to socially distance themselves, and especially hard to track who is actually in each work zone, and who was gathered together.  This can lead to major issues in the event an infected worker goes unnoticed. With digital ID badges, managers can cordon off job-zones and keep track of which workers are currently in each zone.  By using digital ID badges, managers are able to see exactly who was in any job-zone at any time. This greatly helps the enforcement of 10 person limits at any “gathering”, which is what the US Government recommends.

 

Perform Contact Tracing

Because of the ability to pre-screen individuals and also track who goes where on the job-site, it’s possible to use digital IDs as a way to perform contact tracing.  In fact, a $4b job-site was able to stay open because management was able to track and quarantine an infected individual and everyone they interacted with. Digital IDs provide a level of data analysis that no plastic id badge or construction management software can provide.

To learn more about how digital IDs can be used to combat COVID-19, please visit www.virtualbadge.com or download our guide here: http://34.72.34.147/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Virtual-Badge-COVID19_compressed.pdf