It is one thing to maintain safety on a construction site during the COVID-19 pandemic. But it is something else entirely to do it in a healthcare facility, where builders may run a greater risk of infection. But Norwalk, Conn.-based Triax Technologies believes it has a solution.
The company, which specializes in IoT technologies, recently introduced its Proximity Trace system. The system uses wearable devices to alert workers when they are too close to each other on a job site. It also can help perform contact tracing if one worker is diagnosed with COVID-19, and allow employers to determine which other staffers were exposed.
“It’s great for giving some information around exposure time, in terms of minutes or the number of times an individual may have been exposed,” Vice President of Sales Bob Dolan says. He notes the system has been embraced by general contractors who work in the healthcare space.
Bob Dolan
These environments, he explains, often have patients who are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 or are in the process of being diagnosed. Proximity Trace can alert construction workers when they are too close to areas with patients or the healthcare workers who treat them.
Although not every caregiver has contracted COVID-19 from patients, “Their risk exposure is much higher,” Dolan says. “They’re working in an environment where COVID-19 exists. We still need to protect the people who are working on the construction around that area.”
A Warm Reception
In the past three months since its introduction, Dolan says Triax has sold approximately 20,000 Proximity Trace units with steady growth weekly.
“I don’t see an end to this any time in the near future,” he predicts. “Contract tracing and social distancing are here with us for a while. It’s important to have some technology that allows us to understand and quickly inform who has been in close contact with other individuals in an exposed environment.”
