How to fight COVID-19 with technology

While waiting for a vaccine to eradicate the Covid-19 and to guarantee a safe return to the office, we would like to present a technological solution for the control of PRL (prevention of occupational risks), a way to help resume and speed up the return to work in a safe way thanks to technology.

The solution complements existing solutions for the safe access control of workers to their posts through the use of thermographic cameras, with the reservation of workspaces guaranteeing their correct use, also including the control of the use of masks and other preventive material, automatically detecting safety distances, all of which is necessary for the correct and safe resumption of business activity.

Using a mobile application, an employee will be able to see the availability and reserve the day he wants to go to the office, reserve his workspace, a meeting room or place in the dining room and the app will tell him the availability. Likewise, after finishing their day or when they stop using a space, an alert will reach the cleaning staff so that they can disinfect the post, or the area used before it becomes available again.

In addition, the managers will supervise this whole process and will be able to access dashboards that allow them to better understand how the spaces are used by the different teams, with the aim of optimizing the workspace while securing the worker.

Computer Vision to avoid sources of infection 

The system also allows us to analyze how people move and avoid sources of infection through instantaneous alerts using video cameras that, through Computer Vision techniques, are able to control and detect certain aspects such as.

• Mask use detection: controlling the use of masks in the facilities by means of alerts to the mobile phone with demonstrative photos when it is detected that an employee is not wearing one. 
• Safety distance control: analysis of the safety distance to be maintained between individuals, to control queues and crowds by means of mobile phone alerts. 
• Control of the number of people per area or room: counts people in a given area or work zone to limit access, predict movement, and avoid crowding. 

Finally, the solution allows the visualization of heat maps and reports with the aim of analyzing data such as how people move, detecting where there are agglomerations or areas where there is the greatest number of violations, and the possibility of anticipating and therefore preventing, the hours and points of greatest agglomeration, as well as possible redesign of workspaces.

These types of initiatives that help to understand and improve workspaces, in this case, due to the needs imposed by the Covid, are included within the current of Smart Spaces that are common in northern European countries and as in other cases, the situation we are going through has accelerated its adoption by Spanish companies.