Major smartphone vendors and software companies are developing contact tracing technology to assist governments and healthcare providers to understand and slow the infection rate of COVID-19. Most industrial businesses cannot allow employees to take smartphones onto worksites due to their lack of intrinsic safety certification, leaving a contact tracing gap.  

Blackline Safety Corp. (TSXV: BLN), a global leader of cloud-connected safety and gas detection solutions, launched a new contact tracing tool for industrial businesses that picks up where smartphone-based solutions leave off. Blackline’s industrial contact tracing makes it easy to proactively monitor a business’ social distancing effectiveness and trace person-to-person contacts if an employee tests positive. Such active measures help to improve employee confidence and morale, knowing that the business has further control over the health and wellbeing of every worker. 

Blackline has launched its new Close Contact report, immediately available to all current and future customers in its cloud-hosted Blackline Analytics software. This new report supports users of G7 safety wearables during work hours, to map the close interactions between employees. After hours and off the worksite, Blackline’s Loner Mobile smartphone app is available to provide complete tracing coverage for businesses and their personnel. Blackline’s Close Contact report and other contact tracing tools comply with the strictest privacy regulations including the EU’s GDPR and allow businesses to respect the privacy of the employee while keeping them safe. 

“The launch of our contact tracing tools comes just ahead of tomorrow’s World Day for Safety and Health at Work, which exists to promote the safety and wellbeing of employees in the workplace,” said Sean Stinson, VP Sales and Product Management for Blackline Safety. “The COVID-19 outbreak only amplifies the need for connected safety technology at work, as organizations deemed essential have been forced to respond quickly with additional methods to ensure their workers remain safe. Our new contact tracing tools will help businesses proactively monitor their social distancing performance and, should an employee contract COVID-19 or present with symptoms, this report will help them identify points of close employee contact inside their organization.” 

Blackline helps to protect more than 60,000 people worldwide, many working in industries such as utilities, energy, transportation, manufacturing and others that are critical during the response to and recovery from the global pandemic. A combination of Blackline’s connected safety wearables, smartphone app, location technology, cloud-hosted software and data analytics reporting provides a complete solution for enterprise contact tracing.  

Contact tracing tools are a key component of Blackline’s comprehensive suite of connected worker technology that help to ensure an efficient response to help contain an exposure. 

·        Blackline Live History View 

o   Enables businesses to geographically retrace a worker’s steps in the event of him or her presenting with symptoms or testing positive for the virus 

·        New Close Contact Blackline Analytics report 

o   Helps to limit the spread of COVID-19 by helping businesses identify locations where workers regularly come into close contact 

o   Produces a list of all other Blackline device users that an individual worker interacted with over a configurable period of time  

With these new tools, Blackline is helping its customers fight the spread of the virus, potentially saving lives while also supporting the safe production and delivery of essential goods and services. Blackline is offering a webinar, e-Learning course and other resources to help businesses keep their workers safe during the pandemic. Learn more at www.blacklinesafety.com/contact-tracing.