When’s the last time your workplace upgraded the company surveillance system? Is your business up to date on the best security camera solutions to thrive in this COVID-19 world? While there is much out of our control, it’s vital for businesses to control what they can.
“As COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus disease, continues to work its way through the United States and the rest of the world, business owners everywhere have become faced with some tough situations. Many have temporarily reduced their staffs to decrease the risk of person-to-person contact, while other businesses have shut their doors entirely.”
Computers Nationwide will guide you in taking preventative measures to protect the health and safety of your physical location, assets, customers, and staff…
COVID-19 has brought many security challenges to SMB’s throughout the world. The need for limiting contact between people, requiring a mask for entry, restricting access to certain areas, and screening workers for symptoms has increased the importance of installing security cameras during this time. Let’s not forget about the workplaces that have been closed and business owners that are doing their best to keep an eye on their physical location from home. Wouldn’t it be great for everyone to feel safe, secure, and at ease during the pandemic?
International Security Journal Shares 4 Video Analytic Techniques to Take Precautionary Measures During the Pandemic:
- Queue Management – Queue management was designed to optimise customer experiences and reduce wait times. During the pandemic, queue management is focused on managing customer flows and avoiding physical queues to maintain social distance.
- People Counting – In response to the needs of entry-control management, a people counting solution is the ideal video analytic tool for supermarket chains. It can easily identify occupancy levels and monitor in real-time the number of people entering and exiting a store, thereby providing customers and staff with a safer environment.
- Crowd Detection – Crowd Detection video analytics can be used to identify how many people are present in a given area. Stores and businesses can then effortlessly manage and maintain distances between customers, automatically sending alert notifications when maximum capacity is exceeded.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Detection – PPE can protect the user against health or safety risks. These items include safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility garments, safety footwear and so on. During the COVID-19 pandemic, advanced video analysis can identify people who are not wearing masks, hard hats, vests or other critical equipment, providing a safe and healthy environment for both frontline workers and customers.
Creating a safe, healthy environment for your employees and customers is a MUST! In fact, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s new mask enforcement is directed at businesses – not individuals. Business owners will be punished if their customers or staff are not wearing a mask after repeated warnings. “They need to be reminded and reminded and then fined if they are not following this rule for the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. He won approval for police and prosecutors to use criminal fines up to $2,500 to enforce his emergency mask order. Don’t get caught ignoring these guidelines – we’re all in this together!
Business Security Cameras from Computers Nationwide’s Network Partners are Preventing the Spread of COVID-19…
1. Temperature Screening: Hikvision’s highly accurate Temperature Screening Terminal provides advanced skin-surface temperature measurement. “Our innovative access control terminal provides a safer, faster, and smarter solution that enables users to: Perform elevated skin-surface temperature screening with accuracy up to ± 0.9° F (± 0.5° C), View temperature results on local screen for quick identification, & No need to set permissions, normal temperature can unlock the door.” Read our blog about detecting temperature at the door!
2. Social Distancing: Hikvision’s social distancing and density solutions use deep learning people-counting cameras, network video recorders (NVRs), digital signage boxes, and iVMS-4200 desktop application to calculate and notify when social density and distancing exceptions occur.
3. PPE Detection: Open your doors knowing that you’re protecting the wellbeing of employees and customers as soon as they arrive. Facial recognition via Hikvision’s access control solutions allow for accurate mask detection! Hear audible alerts to notify of a mask alert. Read about the benefits of Access Control systems on our blog!
4. Crowd Management: GeoVision’s Crowd Control Solution uses people counting cameras and standalone NVR to provide a real-time display of how many people are entering, leaving and staying in the premises, and triggers alarms and alerts in case predefined capacity thresholds are reached. Learn more here!
Left figure: The number of people entering, leaving and currently at the vicinity is overlaid on the live view. Right figure: In another display, such as a monitor installed near the door, it can display a “No Entry” symbol when the predefined number is reached.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing has become a standard public health intervention around the world,” David Liu, President of VIVOTEK USA, Inc. “According to the definition by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), social distancing, also called ‘Physical Distancing’, means maintaining space between yourself and other people outside of your home. Through social distancing, we can slow the spread of COVID-19 by making a conscious effort to keep a physical distance between each other. Social distancing is proven to be one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of illness during an outbreak.” International Security Journal
Hikvision shares: Although temperature measurement is only one aspect of the fight for keeping us healthy without a resurgence of cases, it does present the most practical to implement. With thermal technology on their doorstep, employers can reduce risk to their employees, and visitors, while maintaining a flow of workers necessary to keep their business running. Not much is certain in these times, but technology and innovation can go some ways to helping build the new ‘normal’.
More Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Environment
The CDC shares additional measures you can take. Institute measures to physically separate and increase distance between employees, other coworkers, and customers, such as:
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Configure partitions with a pass-through opening at the bottom of the barrier in checkout lanes, customer service desks, and pharmacy and liquor store counters as a barrier shield, if possible.
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Use every other check-out lane to aid in distancing.
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Move the electronic payment terminal/credit card reader farther away from the cashier in order to increase the distance between the customer and the cashier, if possible.
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Use verbal announcements on the loudspeaker and place signage throughout the establishment, at entrances, in restrooms, and in breakrooms to remind employees and customers to maintain distances of 6 feet from others.
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Place visual cues such as floor decals, colored tape, or signs to indicate to customers where they should stand during check out.
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Shift primary stocking activities to off-peak or after hours when possible to reduce contact with customers.
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Remove or rearrange chairs and tables or add visual cue marks in employee break rooms to support social distancing practices between employees. Identify alternative areas such as closed customer seating spaces to accommodate overflow volume.
Other Benefits of Commercial Surveillance Systems:
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Preventing theft and deterring burglars
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Increasing overall feelings of safety for customers and employees
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Improve staff productivity and efficiency
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Enjoy peace of mind with 24/7 monitoring
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Evidence of a crime if one occurs on your property
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Cost effective and easily scalable
