How to reduce the risk of Covid-19 spreading in your workplace

How to fight Coronavirus at work The challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic have revolutionized the way businesses think about their workplaces. Whether deemed essential and expected to incorporate new health and safety guidelines, PPE, and social distancing, or having to close doors to employees and adapt to home working. All workplaces have had to step up to new, challenging circumstances. Studies have shown that social distancing is one of the key ways to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and therefore, workplaces are being encouraged to move towards a more contactless way of operating. With the world beginning to slowly return to the workplace, we had a look at some of the most common challenges that businesses will be faced with finding solutions to. With the introduction of contactless payment solutions, we have seen how effective this kind of precaution is in retail and grocery stores. Not only is it convenient, but it also offers a hygienic and germ-free solution to a previously ‘touch-based process. This is now the way that workplaces are heading. Contactless or touch-free entry and exit points, similar in principle to that of contactless payment systems, will replace physical locks and keys. This way, visitors and employees alike can move about the facility without the need to touch a door, in turn preventing the spread of Coronavirus through workspaces in these latter stages of the pandemic. Government guidelines are encouraging businesses to move away from touch-based security systems in order to stop the spreading of the virus. Exterior doors and other entry points, such as elevators and other interior doors are hubs for bacteria and used by everyone entering and exiting a space, massively increasing the risk of infection. These keyless entry systems use a card reader and credentials that are unique to a single user and use proximity cards, eliminating the need for actual contact with the reader, to grant access. These can be issued quickly and access rights can be customized to only give each individual access to specific spaces, rather than an entire building. Government guidelines are encouraging reducing the amount of movement through a building, by restricting access between different areas of a building or facility and introducing a one-way flow as much as possible. This has been proven to aid social distancing and stop the spread of the virus. In the US: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/office-buildings.html In the UK: https://www.hse.gov.uk/coronavirus/working-safely/index.htm Contactless entry systems offer a simple and highly effective solution to this challenge and access control solutions can provide added peace of mind, through the use of contactless keycards and card readers, thermal scanning, and zone control. Of course, this is not the only challenge for businesses when returning to the office or workspace. Contact tracing and social distancing are also of concern and importance. Businesses will be expected to monitor who goes in and out of their facility or office, both employees and visitors.

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