Triax Technologies is launching a social distancing and contact tracing Internet of Things (IoT) solution to keep workers safe during the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Triax, a Connecticut-based technology company that develops and delivers IoT technology for the aggregates and construction industries, says Proximity Trace issues distancing alerts and contact tracing through a wearable device.
It will help companies get employees back to work safely while addressing social distancing practices, the industrial wearables, Triax adds.
Triax's CEO Robert Costantini says: “In talking with our customers, we recognised a critical industry need to keep workers safe from COVID-19 exposure on the worksite, so we quickly got to work developing a solution.
"We leveraged our experience in IoT technology and workforce safety monitoring to address companies’ urgent needs for workers to maintain appropriate distances, to perform historical contact tracing for any employee testing positive for the virus, and to assist companies in getting their workforce back on the job as they implement new safety protocols.
"Our solution is designed to ease the burden on workers to maintain appropriate distances as part of new safety practices that very well could become the next normal.”
The Proximity Trace devices are affixed to a hard hat or worn on the body with a lanyard and emit a progressively louder alarm, alerting workers when they are too close to each other.
According to Triax, this enables them to focus on their work, rather than worrying about their proximity to another worker or potential exposure to the virus.
Additionally, the alarm can remind workers to practice safe social distancing. If there is a confirmed case of COVID-19, an employer can conduct contact tracing using historical data captured passively by the worker’s device to gauge who may have been exposed.
Traditional methods of contact tracing rely on workers' memories and whether they can identify by name other workers they were in contact with during a given time period.
Triax claims more reliable information allows companies to decide who needs to be in mandatory or precautionary quarantine per the Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
Proximity Trace does not use Triax's proprietary mesh network but communicates separately to a cloud dashboard designed for contact tracing. The product is undergoing field testing and feedback from early customers will be incorporated into production for commercial availability.
