During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies were forced to shut their doors for an extended period of time. For the companies that had to remain open, they now had very strict rules on who was allowed to be on site and were required to follow certain measures to help flatten the curve.
Everyone knew re-opening safely was going to be an uphill battle as we try to create a way to maintain a safe workplace environment, follow new mandates, but also function as an operational company. Visitor Management companies had to quickly adapt to add new solutions and product enhancements to incorporate new health safety measures without compromising existing security protocols.
The most common trend that is quickly becoming the norm for facilities is asking Visitors and Employees COVID-19 symptom questions and collecting their responses to make sure they are safe to come onsite. The pre-screening questions were being asked over and over to each and every visitor by an attendant which led to complaints about long wait times and lobby staff not being able to maintain safe social distancing practices.
CDC Recommendations:
- Individuals are not allowed onsite if they have experienced any COVID symptoms in the last 48 hours.
- Daily screening of Employees prior to coming to work.
- For planned Visitors, ask pre-screening questions before they arrive at your facility.
- For walk-in Visitors, ask pre-screening questions before allowing access past your lobby.
It’s estimated that 77% of companies returning to the workplace will implement screening questions for Visitors and Employees per the CDC recommendations.
So how can a Visitor Management Solution help businesses meet the CDC recommendations for health attestation?
New Pre-Entry Health Screening Modules allow facilities to send COVID screening questionnaires via email to Visitors or Employees prior to their visit or workday, before they ever arrive onsite, to ensure they are not experiencing COVID symptoms. Answers are tied to logic so that If the visitor or employee answers satisfactorily, they will be allowed access. If answered that they have symptoms, they will not be allowed access to the facility.
Once a user passes the health questionnaire, real-time notifications can be generated that are sent to individuals with a barcode or QR code to help expedite the Visitor check in process. Upon arrival, this unique code is scanned, information is captured into the Visitor Management System and a Visitor badge is automatically printed. This contactless approach minimizes person-to-person contact and offers an efficient way to register Visitors and Employees, ask the appropriate pre-screening questions needed, confirm or deny visits based on answers and safely track Visitors throughout your facility.
Considerations when selecting a Visitor Management Solution with Pre-Entry Health Screening capability:
- Ability to configure the health screening questions and change as needed.
- Ensure the system only stores Pass/Fail data to comply with HIPAA requirements.
- Ability to pre-register Visitors for added benefits:
- Ability to send pre-screening questionnaires to visitors before they ever leave home.
- If Visitor Passes, provide Visitor an e-Visit Pass for contactless check-in when they arrive onsite.
- Ability to create an efficient way for walk-in Visitors to efficiently & safely answer questions in your lobby or reception area.
- Options for self-service kiosk solutions to eliminate interaction with lobby personnel.
- Ability to send a real-time notification to host when the Visitor checks in to your facility.
For more information about Visitor or Employee Pre-Entry Health Screening best practices or to learn what PassagePoint Visitor Management System can do to help you meet new COVID requirements, contact STOPware at sales@stopware.com.