BlueCats, the leading provider of comprehensive Real Time Location Solutions (RTLS), today announced the launch of BlueCats Contact Tracing Solution (CTS). BlueCats CTS is a fully configurable wearable solution that provides the most accurate contact tracing and enables employees to adhere to social distancing guidelines with its distinct visual, physical and audible notifications so they know precisely when they are in close or nearby proximity to other employees without compromising privacy.
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BlueCats CTS SafetyTags™ are individual Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wearable devices, which provide a layer of accuracy and anonymity. With BlueCats CTS, once the SafetyTag is associated with a person, it records all interactions with other SafetyTags. No location data is stored. Any contact events between SafetyTags is stored within LoopCloud™, BlueCats’ privacy protected database. In the event an employee becomes symptomatic or tests positive for COVID-19, the employer can instantly produce a contact report via BlueCats’ Loop Cloud platform. Within minutes, specific employees that were in close contact with the infected employee can be appropriately notified, quarantined, and tested anonymously instead of having to shut down an entire facility or sideline an entire shift, quelling concerns in the workplace and ensuring seamless operations. (Photo: Business Wire)
COVID-19 has changed how the world does business. Negotiating new workplace safety requirements while keeping the doors open means all organizations must consider a variety of ways to keep everyone safe, healthy and productive while concurrently mitigating downtime. While important measures like wearing masks and washing hands more often are simple to implement, the critical work of accurate contact tracing after an outbreak is more difficult to achieve, particularly across multiple worksites and involving potentially hundreds of people.
Fully developed and built in Austin, Texas, BlueCats CTS is easy to use, can be set up within a few hours, and scales to enable businesses to make effective decisions based on accurate metrics and insights. The solution ensures privacy is paramount by requiring no access to employee personal or cell phone data. Using individual Ultra-Wideband (UWB) wearable devices, called SafetyTags™, provides a layer of accuracy and anonymity. Data is digitally collected and assessed, increasing accuracy and speed and eliminating the opportunity for manual errors.
With BlueCats CTS, once the SafetyTag is associated with a person, it records all interactions with other SafetyTags. No location data is stored. Any contact events between SafetyTags is stored within Loop Cloud™, BlueCats’ privacy protected database. In the event an employee becomes symptomatic or tests positive for COVID-19, the employer can instantly produce a contact report via BlueCats’ Loop Cloud platform. Within minutes, specific employees that were in close contact with the infected employee can be appropriately notified, quarantined, and tested anonymously instead of having to shut down an entire facility or sideline an entire shift, quelling concerns in the workplace and ensuring seamless operations.
“Our goal has always been to provide solutions that create a safer working environment for our customers and their employees,” said Nathan Dunn, BlueCats CEO. “We are IoT and RTLS experts, and we applied our expertise to accelerate development of the BlueCats CTS to address the urgent need for an accurate, real-time proximity solution that could be relied upon amidst the pandemic.”
BlueCats CTS was built to enable customers to get more people back to work safely.
One of its US-based large construction customers recently identified a worker who tested positive for COVID-19. Relying on the contact tracing report generated by BlueCats’ Loop Cloud platform, the workers who had been in close contact of the positive case worker were notified within minutes and the company’s COVID action plan was implemented immediately. Previously, the task of identifying first level contacts took several days and required multiple people, with no level of accuracy. Using BlueCats CTS, the customer received strong feedback from their workforce, including ‘I feel safer working here than other sites’ and ‘my family is proud that I am working for a group who takes my safety so seriously’.
While vaccines are being distributed across the world, the harsh reality is not every employee is willing or able to be vaccinated,” Dunn continued. “Accurate and reliable contact tracing is a business necessity for many companies to create a safe workplace capable of accommodating vaccinated and unvaccinated employees.”
BlueCats CTS is a critical solution to enable businesses to work productively through COVID-19, especially as employers are faced with the situation of having to create a safe workplace for vaccinated and unvaccinated employees and visitors. While the urgent need for contact tracing is most impactful during a pandemic, BlueCats’ UWB-based solution provides additional value when used for asset and personnel tracking, man-down, time on tool, and much more.
“Beyond COVID, we have already developed broader long-term capabilities that will automate and inform the future workplace, making it safer and more productive,” Dunn concluded.
Select industries have been using RTLS products for decades. Today, this real-time data is needed by virtually every business to improve safety, efficiency and productivity. BlueCats CTS is currently being used by innovative food processors, major construction companies, and manufacturers globally as well as in major U.S. municipalities.
About BlueCats
BlueCats provides solutions to create safer, more efficient and productive workplaces. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with U.S. offices in Austin, Texas, and Huntsville, Alabama, BlueCats specializes in real time proximity and sensing technology to increase safety and productivity. For more information, visit www.bluecats.com.
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