b'HEALTHOften there is a groundbreaking event thattechnologycouldprovidelong-termvalueCalifornia. The Silicon Valley company has shatterspreviousbarriersandsomethingin tracking details such as worker hours, forsince released the app for use by contractors isintroducedthatwouldhavehistoricallybetter management that will save costs andat no cost during the pandemic. notbeenacceptable,Klappichsaid.Oneprevent errors in addition to contact tracing.The company has been developing software example was the introduction of video sur- Riskcast offers a variety of tools, includingfor nearly two decades, said Shaun Olson, veillance after the September 11, 2001 terrorone that tracks the presence and assignmentBuildCenters co-founder and president. Its attacks. If the pandemic lingers and socialof each member of each work crew to pro- contact-tracingsolutionlaunchedinlate distancing becomes the norm, then real-timevide historical date in the case of a positiveApril and was initially released to all con-employee tracking might have some stayingCOVID-19 test. In the past year, Riskcasttractors in June. Its first-tier app remains free power, he added.has begun offering a feature with kiosk-typethroughout the pandemic. Workers answer App-Based Construction check-in and check-out, using a ruggedizedcustomized,dailyquestionsonexposure Site Management tabletrunningtheRiskcastapp.Workersusing the app. A foreman can also fill out the check in with a QR code scan, providing adata for their crew, while company adminis-Morecommonareless-intrusivemeasuresdigital record of who was on-site and when.tration can access that data or search and sort that help managers collect and manage dataThey can set the system to ask questions toby person and date. about who is on-site and at what times. Theidentify if each employee was working safely. softwarecompanyRiskcastSolutionsInc.,The pro (second-tier) version, which has an NewYork,forinstance,wasfoundedbyLong Island City, N.Y.-based electrical con- automatic trigger feature, is not free. If users former Skanska professionals to offer solu- tractor E-J Electric Installation Co. is amongrespond to a question such as, Do you have tionsforworksitemanagement,andnowthose using the Riskcast system. It providesa headache? with a yes, an email can be sent contact tracing as well, said Alec Thomson,the company with time sheets, productionto someone to contact that person. Riskcasts co-founder and CEO.tracking, employee safety certifications and,In either case, The key benefit is it keeps Thomson is no fan of technology deploy- mostrecently,timeandmaterials(T&M)COVID-19safetytopofmindon-site, mentjustforitsownsake.Heconsidersticketing. The foreman inputs the data andOlson said. The second benefit is the ability anythingwithoutlong-termvaluetobea project manager uses Riskcast for reporting,to quickly contain the spread. If an exposure negligible.Ontheotherhand,hesaid,said Anthony E. Mann, E-J Electrics presi- occurs,someonepullsupasearchinthe whileCOVID-19fundingisavailabledent and CEO.app, interviews the worker and creates a list formanylargercompanies,thismaybeAs E-J Electric has adapted to the new real- of those who might need to be contacted. thetimetoacquiretechnologythatcanityofcoronavirus-basedsafetyissues,heAlready hundreds of companies in the United providesolutionsfarbeyondpreventingsaid, we were fortunate to already have hadStates and Canada are using the app. COVID-19 transmissions.software in place like Riskcast to manage ourHIDGlobal,Austin, Texas,offersamore He estimated that about 70 per cent of theworkforce remotely. extensiveanddata-richsolutionthatcan construction industry is still using pen andSafetyhasalwaysbeenE-Jstoppriority.pinpointthegenerallocationofworkers paperforrecordingcriticaldataon-site,Thereisanetworkofpeopleinternallyautomatically in real time and historically for including time sheets. Thats due in part tofocused on making sure we are following allcontact tracing, said Mark Robinton, HID the fact that the work is highly fragmented.COVID-19 guidelines, Mann said.GlobalsvicepresidentoftheIoTservices Each project is different, so the data-inputAnothersolutioncomesfromBuildCenterbusiness unit.methodvariesandisconfigurablebyInc., Campbell, Californiaa contact tracingIts Bluetooth beacons can be plugged into AC the contractor.system created by its own sister companies,power around a site and then can track Blue-Thequestioncontractorsshouldask,labour firm CleanRoom Buildings Inc., andtooth fobs carried by workers. The system Thomson said, is whether an investment ingeneralcontractorCobeInc.,Campbell,was first launched at 30 different sites within Our winning productsPARTNER WITH US FOR YOUR and services include:FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS!Magazines Directories Show Guides Events Profiles Buyers Guides E-NewslettersVideo Custom Content MarketingSponsorship Sales Contact Robert Thompson 1.647.494.4229 www.mediaedge.cawww.ecao.org12'