Massachusetts energy management company GE Current is working with UK start-up Pointr to help companies reopen buildings using IoT smart lighting.
 
The joint offering includes contact tracing, disinfectant lighting, safe wayfinding, and occupancy and congestion management to provide reassurance to workers as they get back to work. The system communicates with smart devices using intelligent lights from Current and Bluetooth Low Energy.
 
The partnership enables location-based services in large buildings such as retail premises, warehouses, workplaces and distribution centres.
 
“Now, more than ever, technology can help businesses deliver an optimal working environment for workers,” said Ed Davis, director at Current. “With smart lighting combined with location-based services, businesses get efficient return to work solutions that are easy to implement and highly scalable across multiple platforms.”
 
Current smart lighting combined with Pointr’s location-based services deliver applications to retailers, warehouses and industrial premises, providing the ability to understand the precise location of employees and visitors using any Android or iOS devices, such as smartphones or Honeywell devices.
 
“We are excited to collaborate with Current to give employers the tools to reopen their workplace safely,” said Trevayne O’Brien, head of partnerships at Pointr. “With contact tracing, disinfection lighting and insights on occupancy and congestion, employees are reassured that their employer takes their health seriously and can react quickly.”
 
Benefits include hyper-accurate indoor positioning, which can be crucial to enable location-based services such as indoor wayfinding, location sharing and asset tracking. Pointr’s Deep Location technology uses machine-learning techniques to ensure one-metre location accuracy, even in complex buildings.
 
Clinically proven disinfectant lighting is a germicidal ultra-violet option for any occupied space. Current’s technology has the ability to reduce common pathogens while being safe for human exposure.
 
With the WorkSafe contact tracing app and dashboard, employers can quickly identify exposed employees for testing, potentially limiting widespread facility closures.
 
Building managers can monitor visitor flows, bottlenecks and density using occupancy and congestion analytics. By monitoring how many people are in specific zones of the buildings, employers ensure there is no overcrowding within the venue.
 
WorkSafe helps employers ensure business continuity, reassure their employees and enforce compliance. It is an enterprise product that enables contact tracing, occupancy limits, congestion management, safe routing and cleaning monitoring. The technology builds on Pointr’s real-time indoor positioning software. WorkSafe is compliant with data privacy rules and can be rolled out instantly with no hardware required.