As the United States enters the eighth month of learning to live with COVID-19, many are struggling to strike the proper balance in opening businesses, schools, hospitals and places of worship. We all want to maintain a safe environment that follows CDC and local safety protocols, and also remain open sustainably. But the rules seem to continuously shift—sometimes day to day. As a result, local communities are faced with a widespread disparity of perspectives and approaches. In the end, businesses and organization leaders are stuck trying to assess risks and put protective protocols in place. In recognition of this dilemma, TouchSource and CLEARED4 joined forces this past August to launch a solution that supports getting people back to work safely using a comprehensive screening, monitoring and health safety platform. The partnership combines the TouchSource Taos wellness kiosk for onsite temperature screening together with the CLEARED4 mobile wellness platform which helps responsible organizations automate the process of ensuring a safer COVID-19-free environment.
At first blush, it may not be readily apparent why app-based COVID tracking software and an IoT-based digital technology company are such a natural fit. It’s because deliver a compelling digital experience to support employee, visitor and tenant safety in the spaces where we work, learn, shop and play.
Whether they’re going back to the office or visiting a doctor, most Americans are now familiar with some form of the following experience:
Scan a QR code to access a health questionnaire regarding symptoms, possible COVID exposure and safety rules for the location being visited.
Sign an agreement or waiver that you accept the terms for the site or building.
Get your temperature scanned – often by someone who comes closer than 6 feet to conduct the screening.
Where is this information stored? Who has access? Does it comply with health and privacy laws? Why did that person lean so close to me to scan my temperature while telling me to keep 6 feet from anyone? These are the questions many visitors ask after each experience. Employees wonder if the measures are safe for them as well. That’s why many organizations and facility managers are looking for better options.
It’s also why people turn to TouchSource and CLEARED4. We unite to deliver a simple, self-service digital experience using mobile surveys and an onsite wellness kiosk to safely screen employees and visitors. The CLEARED4 platform supports Covid-19 symptom monitoring compliance, automates contact trace reporting and provides strict access control to keep workplaces, schools and other types of spaces safe.
It supports compliance and liability with pre-screening. And it can address what many fear—an COVID-driven liability cases. No one wants to be surprised with lawsuits from employees saying, “hey, you made me come back to work and didn’t provide a safe environment.”
Surveying employees serves as a proactive and preventative safety measure. However, many of our joint customers have said, “we need more. We also need a failsafe way to do screening and onsite safety as an individual enters a building.” This is where the TouchSource Taos wellness kiosk comes in. The kiosk allows you to do on-the-spot temperature screening, supply contactless hand sanitizer and deliver messaging on the digital display. It complements the mobile screening survey by adding a safety check at the point of entry to a workplace, sports stadium, school, hotel, store or medical building.
Why add a physical screen and messaging station? It allows you to have a “rubber meets the road” screening solution that visibly and publicly shows that you’re protecting employees and visitors. It’s adds further validation to the pre-screening survey and offers a method of communicating public health protocols in an impossible to ignore manner. And, it encourages hand sanitization which lowers the risk of infection as employees enter a building. The digital kiosk interaction can be configured a number of ways, but the simplest way to think of it is that it provides a stoplight interaction with red/yellow/green results that can be managed as the employer or facility manager sees fit. A kiosk of this nature is more than a temporary fix during the pandemic. It’s been designed to be future proof. In the future, you can redeploy and relocate it for use with visitors who need directory services, messaging or wayfinding. Use it to promote employee or student programs, seasonal health messages, and scan-to-mobile information by simply changing the content on the digital display. Swap out the temperature sensor for a proximity sensor or camera to detect when a user is approaching or enhance the safety of your spaces after hours with video monitoring.
And the TouchSource Taos kiosk is a one-time capital expense that mitigates the need to hire additional staffing when that’s challenging and costly to do. Moreover, existing reception area employees aren’t asked to conduct risky work with hand screening devices. The Taos kiosk stands as a reminder to all that you are taking the health and wellness of all who enter your premises seriously. It offers comfort and confidence to those that enter. Occasionally, we have had customers ask about security concerns, especially with the explosion of temperature monitoring solutions made in China. Many cheap solutions don’t comply with US privacy and security policies and are poorly made. By contrast, the TouchSource Taos solution was made to last, fit the look and feel of your space, and protect privacy and security of users. More information on how we designed our Made in the USA product is covered by our Chief Technology Officer, Eric Sloan, in his recent blog on this topic. When used together with Cleared4, the integrated solution maintains compliance with privacy, safety and HIPPA laws.
Learn more at about our wellness kiosk and integration with CLEARED4.
