Pitney Bowes Australia advises on benefits of digital visitor management solutions

September 17, 2020

Pitney Bowes Australia, a technology company providing innovative products and solutions to power commerce, shares some insights into maintaining safety and compliance for onsite visitors through digital visitor management solutions.

While businesses have needed to track onsite visitors for much of the last two decades, with the COVID-19 pandemic, there has never been a more critical time to ensure that the technology used to collect this data is up to date and includes strong functionality.

With the need for social distancing during COVID-19 an added level of visibility and traceability helps companies keep their workers, contractors, and visitors safe. Digital visitor management solutions that offer the ability to create customised questions to track key health information can aid companies in remaining compliant with changing government guidelines and regulations.

According to Pitney Bowes, digital systems can be used to immediately inform businesses that a visitor is on the premises, provide visitors with any safety or emergency information they may need while onsite, and keep track of visitors and workers in the event of an emergency, such as a fire evacuation.

While it’s standard operating procedure for businesses to collect information about people visiting their premises, collecting this information accurately has become even more critical since the Coronavirus pandemic necessitated contact tracing and social distancing restrictions.

The introduction of workplace health and safety legislation in Australia in 2011 and New Zealand in 2015 meant that organisations needed to keep track of all people on their premises.

While organisations may previously have used paper processes to sign visitors in and out, digital visitor management has now become standard practice, with visitor management systems becoming more affordable as technology advances.

With the added complications of COVID-19 and social distancing, that added level of visibility and traceability helps companies keep their workers, contractors, and visitors safe. Digital visitor management solutions that offer the ability to create customised questions to track key health information can aid companies in remaining compliant with changing government guidelines and regulations.

Pitney Bowes Japan, Australia and New Zealand Vice President and Country Manager, Stephen Darracott advises “Businesses have needed to track onsite visitors for the better part of two decades. However, there’s never been a more critical time to ensure that the technology used to collect this data is up to date and includes strong functionality. For example, the ability to immediately and automatically notify people that they have visitors ensures the organisation is always aware of movement onsite in the event of an emergency.

“Digital visitor management solutions can be quickly customised to accommodate the introduction of new health and safety measures. Contactless check-in especially can help keep staff and visitors safe by limiting exposure to other people.”

By using a contactless check-in and responding to customised questions, for example regarding COVID-19 symptom checks or even flu vaccination status, visitors and contractors can be cleared by the system without interacting with other workers.

Digital solutions also provide easy access to historical data, which can be used for contact tracing if COVID-19 is detected in a visitor or worker. Effective solutions can provide visibility over people on a premise at any given time, as well as facilitate more streamlined communications.

Beyond the health of workers, visitors, and contractors, newer technologies can also help companies ensure the physical safety of people onsite. By requiring all visitors to sign in and out and display their identification, digital solutions let companies more easily identify unauthorised persons and even notify relevant staff if a visitor or contractor is onsite without the right permissions.

Darracott adds “with safety and security being a key duty of care for companies at their worksites, current digital solutions go far beyond what older systems could offer, including digital contractor management solutions that incorporate online inductions. If a company requires all visitors to complete a site induction, covering emergency procedures, restricted areas, or similar, a digital system can help deliver this information to visitors quickly and efficiently on arrival. Modern visitor management solutions shoulder the burden of this task, automating most of it and ensuring that organisations always have the information they need to keep their workplace safe.”

Image: New entrance control solutions that detect fevers and help leisure and fitness facilities meet COVID-19 physical distancing requirements have been brought to Australia and New Zealand by security specialist Centaman Entrance Control.

The technology includes a contactless wrist scanner, known as a ‘Thermo Detector’, that can be added to new or existing Centaman Entrance Control gates. The scanner checks the temperate of every facility visitor and only allows gates to open if their temperature is within a normal range.

A separate ‘Automated Occupancy Control’ solution has also been introduced. The occupancy counter can be added to many existing Centaman Entrance Control gates to monitor the number of people entering and exiting a facility and prevent entry when a set occupancy limit is reached.

Click here to contact Centaman Entrance Control via their Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory entry.

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