From a security perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for businesses. Construction firms have delayed or shut down projects, leaving job sites potentially unstaffed. Employee furloughs and layoffs created holes in on-site staffing and monitoring. And social distancing and mask requirements have created issues with both employees and customers. It’s no wonder that people are turning to social distancing cameras as solutions.
Security video surveillance can help mitigate these challenges. This article will look at some of the best practices businesses are using to leverage these tools, protect their properties, and keep customers and employees safe.
How Can Video Security Help Your Business During COVID-19?
Research is clear: Social distancing slows the spread of airborne diseases like COVID-19. Moreover, there may be governmental requirements. Businesses with on-site workers may be operating under some local or state social distancing measures. Plexiglas partitions, minimal face-to-face interactions, staggered shifts, and facemasks all may be part of your new normal.
Most business owners understand that video security is important for protecting their business. As businesses temporarily shut down, video surveillance remains a critical tool in our effort to monitor the security of a property. But the COVID-19 pandemic has created a new need for security monitoring: observing and monitoring employees and customers for social distancing and health safety.
Video security footage has many benefits for companies, including documenting what happens with customers and workers during open hours. This footage can be used in creating safer workplace environments, or even protecting your business from a customer lawsuit.
But how can these tools help businesses enforce social distancing to keep employees and customers safe, while still proving compliance with the latest health department regulatory requirements? To track and encourage employee social distancing, cameras are an invaluable tool.
IP Security Cameras Create COVID Safety
IP security cameras are the latest innovations in the field. The technology today uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze information in real-time and makes split-second decisions about how to respond. These cameras can identify the difference between people inside or outside your property and alert you. Learn more about AI-enabled cameras here.
While IP security cameras are still used primarily for location security, these same tools can help you remotely monitor for COVID-19 compliance. Cameras with social distancing surveillance capabilities can be used for 24/7 real-time internet-based monitoring of a storefront, job site, or even an outdoor space to help you with:
- Occupancy management
Video technology can help you monitor occupancy in your public-facing facility and help you control foot traffic. - Face mask detection
States are now mandating face masks. Your organization is tasked with complying with these rules. Detecting individuals who aren’t wearing masks is less of a criminal security concern and more of a public health issue. 24/7 monitoring of location traffic can help you respond and assure public officials that your business remains in compliance with all regulatory requirements. - Monitoring social distancing
Every U.S. state has issued guidelines requiring some sort of social distancing. In some cases, bars and restaurants have even been fined or shut down for failing to follow these rules.
Today’s AI-enabled IP security cameras do more than just take video and audio images. These next-level tools offer computing power that transforms the images and sounds captured into actionable events. Take the case of a grocery store location. IP security cameras can be deployed to do more than detecting a shoplifter. Real-time monitoring and advanced camera analytics can help with:
- Managing the checkout queue to ensure social distancing. If the camera shows the lines are too long or crowded, more registers can be opened.
- Tracking the number of people entering a store to ensure you’ve remained compliant with occupancy requirements.
- Detecting excessive crowds to help you manage social distancing.
- Alerting you when customers or workers fail to wear masks or other important gear like gloves.
Smart camera technology allows you to set up social distancing surveillance alerts when any of these issues flare up. The high-definition, thermal, and infrared cameras allow you to monitor highly contagious quarantined patients without exposing a healthcare worker to the virus. Placing fixed IP security cameras in a patient’s room may sound controversial, but in fact, it helps healthcare providers protect their patients at a time when workers are stretched to the breaking point. Video cameras can see if a patient gets up and falls, for example, then smart computing can send an alert to a caregiver for a faster response.
Social distancing surveillance is another application for technologies that were designed to protect us from criminal behaviors. When coupled with AI intelligent computing, these tools can now be used to keep us all a little safer during some very uncertain times.
Pro-Vigil is the number one resource for IP video security. Talk to our team about how these important tools can help your business.
