Getting Back to Work – Helping Staff to be Safe and Feel Secure

Currently there is an interesting debate ongoing from all areas of the construction industry about the future workplace and how it will evolve. For now I believe it is important to focus on the present and how employers can enable staff to return to work safely and help them to feel secure without huge capex expenditure on items that will be discarded in the future.

What is required is a solution that is technology lead with future benefits, that is sustainable, reliable and will enable employers to manage the work environment more effectively.

The use of sensors in offices has grown in popularity in the recent past. Installing sensors to a work place and connecting both the sensors and the building systems to a single digital platform allows estate owners, facility managers and employers to understand and optimise the building environment, maintenance, usage and inevitably the health of those who occupy it. And now it offers clear benefits to employers who want to offer their staff the choice of returning to the workplace safely.

The key benefits to installing a sensor system can be summarised as follows:

• Capacity – The number and seating position of staff can be monitored to ensure that social distancing is observed correctly.
• Environment – The building systems can be managed to optimise the working conditions in terms of air quality, temperature and lighting to suit the new levels of staff density.
• Reassurance – Staff can feel reassured that their environment is being optimised to suit their needs and that they are being kept safe.
• Minimum Capex Expenditure – A sensor system can be leased for a 12 month period, and then purchased at a later date if the employer wishes to continue using the system to control the building systems.
• Minimum Waste – The sensors can be taken down and reused at another workplace if no longer required. There is no waste, a truly sustainable solution.

To help in the current economic climate, there are options available to minimise costs. An example of this would be to install a minimum number of sensors at entrances and exits to monitor capacity and installation of air quality sensors across the floor which can be battery operated and mobile. A full system could be installed if the benefits are recognised.

At the current time my team and I are working with Metrikus as their software is hardware agnostic enabling any sensor or legacy system to be integrated. But I truly believe that as a simple, sustainable tool, the sensor system is the way forward.

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