National engineering firm ADG Engineers has partnered with medical experts, Workplace Medicine Australia (WMA), to develop the Covid-19 Support System, designed to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus on construction sites and other key places of work.
The system uses early identification and consultation to provide safer conditions for the essential workforce.
Australia's first coronavirus case on a construction site was confirmed last week at a Parkville site in Melbourne, with a second confirmed case shortly after at Multiplex’s Melbourne Square site.
With construction work currently classified as an essential service by the Australian government, construction sites look set to remain open for the foreseeable future with work hours on sites in New South Wales and Victoria now extended.
Australia’s construction industry employs up to 1.2 million people across the country, making it more important now than ever to keep this essential workforce safe and healthy while being exposed to close and multi-person contact environments.
ADG's new Covid-19 Support System allows for a holistic and automated approach to the management of potentially infectious cases on sites, from early detection through to immediate medical attention, testing and confidential reporting.
“Our main priority is to ensure a healthy workforce and optimise capability within an organisation,” medical director of Workplace Medicine Australia, Dr Scott Allison said.
In the current Covid-19 pandemic we have combined cutting edge technology to identify workers with a fever and provide them with immediate access to medical review.”
“This enables us to identify possible cases of Covid-19 early so that they can be isolated and cared for with minimal disruption to essential industries.”
By bridging the gap between day-to-day site operations and professional medical support, the system allows construction sites to maintain higher standards of safety for their workers and mitigate the risk of potential contamination.
“By combining the latest technology and risk management process leadership with medical expertise from our Medical Partners at WMA, we are hoping to create a safer working environment for our communities’ essential workers,” ADG team lead James O'Brien said.
“We are working to expand on the artificial intelligence and analytics in the system to provide future real-time insights into the general health of site workers as the system evolves to meet industry needs.”
The system enables building contractors to mitigate the risk of viral transmission to their essential workers, and the community, with an end-to-end framework, from early identification through to on-site medical consultation, testing and reporting as required.
“Using our solution engineering process, we’re working to facilitate a safer workplace for our essential workers through the current Covid-19 pandemic, as well help organisations build better risk management and safety systems for the future.” ADG managing director Marco Ficca said.
“We’re using AI, analytics, and in-built alerting functionality to ensures risks are dealt with immediately by the appropriate medical professionals through each stage of the patient workflow.”
ADG and WMA are working to deploy the system on a construction site within the coming weeks, with a view to providing support to other essential services industries in the months ahead. As well as working with key public and private health operators to provide support.
The system could also be utilised in the longer term by property trusts, transport authorities and education facilities as the social distancing regulations ease and people return to their daily routines.
If you would like more information on ADG’s and WMA Covid-19 Support System and how ADG Engineers and WMA can help keep your essential workforce safe, click here.
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