Implementing contact tracing for COVID-19 at your job site

Contact tracing has proven to be one of the most effective weapons for combating the Coronavirus pandemic. By tracing the movements of people who have tested COVID-19 positive, health authorities have been able to determine how the person became infected, and who could have been exposed to the virus. Steps are taken to place potentially exposed people into isolation and prevent community transmission. But how do you apply this to your workplace?

Contact tracing sounds complicated and expensive, but actually there are simple measures you can put in place to create an effective and reliable system. So if the state government called to advise that a customer who visited your showroom last week tested positive for COVID-19, you could provide clear information about how long they were onsite, and who they were with. Read on to learn more.

Digital recording of all site visitors

One of the easiest ways to support COVID-19 contact tracing is to use a digital visitor sign-in system at the entrance of your office, showroom, factory, or job site. This requires everyone who visits — employees, contractors, customers, visitors, delivery drivers — to sign in before being allowed on site.

Digital sign-in systems eliminate the need for paper forms (and associated pens, clipboards, and folders) by linking a backend software program with front desk hardware. When a visitor first arrives they can have their body temperature checked, and if under 37.4°C be asked a set of screening questions and entry checks. The questions are pre-configured in the software.

IMPORTANT! Before asking the screening questions it should be made clear that the visitor’s information will be kept on record and may be provided to state government departments for COVID-19 contact tracing purposes.

Your screening questions might look something like this:

Are you willing to provide your personal information for contact tracing?
Please provide your name, address, contact phone, email.
What is the reason for your visit?
In the last 48 hours have you had any symptoms related to the COVID-19 virus — eg, temperature of more than 37.4°C, dry cough, sore throat or respiratory issues?
In the last 30 days have you …
- Been overseas?
- Travelled interstate?
- Been in an area with known cases of COVID-19?⁃ Completed a 14-day quarantine?
- Been in contact with a person known or suspected of having COVID-19?

DID YOU KNOW? Digital entry systems can be configured with intuitive questions so if a person answers YES to completing a mandatory 14-day quarantine they may be asked to upload a copy of their quarantine clearance.

The screening questions can be delivered in a number of ways:

Install touch-screen kiosks at the front entrance which visitors complete themselves. The kiosks can be a simple touchscreen tablet can also include cameras to photograph visitors as well as an adjunct printer for visitor passes.
Contactless site entry using a smartphone app or QR code link. The visitor completes all their details on their mobile, uploads their documents and ID, and is approved site entry.
For highly secure situations you might wish to have a desktop computer at the front desk and have a dedicated staff member (positioned at least 1.5 metres away) question the visitor — then fill out the online form on their behalf. The staff member issues a visitor pass.

DID YOU KNOW? Rapid Access and Rapid Go are Australia’s leading visitor sign in systems? They allow contactless entry, full contact tracing via detailed user logs, and improves workflow efficiencies by eliminating the need for your staff to complete visitor data.

Allocating a host for all visitors

Allowing people to walk around a worksite without any restrictions is now a thing of the past. Even contractors who have completed safety inductions still need to be closely monitored to ensure they follow site infection controls. One of the best ways to do this is to allocate a host to all site visitors, including regular maintenance contractors.

When using an electronic visitor access system you can assign a host prior to a scheduled contractor’s arrival, or place “walk-in visitors” on a waiting list as hosts become available. A smart sign-in system will notify a host’s smartphone that a visitor has arrived. If the visitor fails any pre-entry questions such as “international traveller” or “showing virus symptoms” the host can be alerted to ensure safety protocols are immediately enacted.

The host is responsible for making sure that a site visitor:

Washes and sanitises their hands before entering different areas on the job site.
Wears masks, gloves or other appropriate PPE.
Follows physical distancing protocols.
Sanitises tools, equipment and machinery after contact.
Doesn’t stray into restricted areas.

The host system can also be used effectively in retail stores and product showrooms. This limits the number of customers inside at the same time, and hosts can sanitise products immediately after a customer has touched or tested them.

DID YOU KNOW? All of this can be taken care of for you by Rapid Access and Rapid Go. Our amazing technical support team will configure the system to ensure all the operational needs of your worksites are incorporated.

Keeping logs of date and time spent on site

Using a digital visitor sign-in system gives you access to detailed user data and entry logs. As easy as running a report, you can call up the names of every person who was on site within specific time periods. Then hone in on a single person (or small groups) to determine:

What time they arrived.
What time they left.
What areas they accessed.
If they had a host or supervisor.
If a person has tested positive to COVID-19 you can then run additional reports to identify who they may have contacted when they were onsite.

DID YOU KNOW? The state government in Victoria and other state governments in Australia require certain businesses to keep contact tracing data and entry logs for 28 days? Do you have systems in place to take care of this?

Need contact tracing at your job site in a hurry?

Many Victorian businesses — as well as others throughout Australia are required by law to implement contact tracing. Is that you? Get in touch with our dedicated tech team today, and request a free demonstration of Rapid Access and Rapid Go — Australia’s finest visitor sign-in systems. We’re here to help you implement a compliant COVIDSafe plan that protects your people, as well as the general public.

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