Where the move to sheltering in place, isolation, and quarantine was swift and decisive, reopening has come with greater uncertainty. Even as countries reopen according to best practices, people the world over are nervous about their health and safety as they resume regular daily activities.
One of the main concerns is how to reenter buildings safely. When the pandemic began, a majority of the population simply stayed at home. Businesses came to a grinding halt. We may think of buildings as having closed, but they didn’t. Buildings have, in fact, remained operational. It’s just that no one showed up.
To allow people to come back into buildings with confidence, property and facility managers must find ways to mitigate the risks to tenants, personnel, and visitors in their spaces. This is something that the Building Owners and Managers Association of Canada (BOMA Canada) takes seriously.
According to Benjamin Shinewald, CEO, at BOMA Canada, “Bringing people back into buildings safely is vital for our economic recovery.” Given its membership, BOMA Canada can play a significant role in helping that happen. As Shinewald explains, “The majority of Canada’s economy happens within our members’ buildings.”
Because of the size and nature of its membership, BOMA Canada has the opportunity to make a positive contribution to reopening efforts. Today, they are focusing on developing clear guidelines that include how to use technology effectively and help people feel safe as we move back into our shared spaces. Partnering with a trusted technology solutions provider is a big step in the reopening efforts.
The Importance of Consistency
When it comes to helping people feel safe, consistency goes a long way. Consistent rules implemented in a consistent manner give us peace of mind. Early on, for example, we became used to seeing cashiers wearing face shields behind plexiglass because we saw similar setups in every essential service. Although we knew very little about the virus, we understood that these actions were helping to stop the spread of COVID-19. We felt reassured.
Now, if we encounter someone working in a store whose face is not covered and who is not protected by a screen, we feel uneasy. The lack of consistency causes us to question when and where we’re actually safe. Currently, there is no regulatory body that sets standards for commercial real estate. This has the potential to lead to inconsistencies in building policies as well as in their application.
BOMA Canada has always acted as a voice for the Canadian commercial real estate industry on matters of national concern. Key aspects of the organization’s mandate are to identify issues and future trends affecting the industry and then develop and implement consistent policy. This puts them in an excellent position to educate and support property and facility managers as they welcome people back into their buildings.
According to Shinewald, “BOMA Canada is looking to ensure that people have the same experience across all the buildings they enter. We want people to feel that going into a building is as safe as possible and that the same holds true for all buildings. We believe that providing people with consistent experiences will help give the Canadian economy a great degree of stability.”
The Path to Reopening
A great way to ensure consistency is to establish clear guidelines. BOMA Canada has compiled the Pathway Back to Work Guide, which contains recommendations for facilitating the safe return of tenants, personnel, and visitors to commercial real estate across the country.
The guide provides suggested practices and procedures as well as identifies key strategies for reopening related to operational systems, personnel protocols, and building maintenance. The goal is to help property and facility managers develop strategies for their unique spaces while enabling them to provide a consistent experience for the return to occupancy.
Topics in the guide include:
- Using thermal imaging
- Managing building amenities, including conference rooms
- Cleaning shared spaces, including washrooms and elevators
- Supporting contact tracing
An important consideration throughout the guide is how to use technology as we reopen. BOMA Canada believes that technology will play a crucial role in enabling buildings to welcome people safely.
The Importance of Technology
Given how quickly needs and requirements are changing, property and facility managers may be reluctant to adopt entirely new solutions in their buildings. What may work today may not work tomorrow as we learn more about this virus or as other issues appear. Property and facility managers want a solution with an established track record that will not become obsolete in the near future.
Fortunately, many existing technologies rely on devices already deployed in physical security systems that can help implement current guidelines and meet future challenges. In fact, if a building has an existing physical security system built on open architecture components, like Genetec Security Center, they are already in a good position to be able to deploy new devices that will help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
For example, when it comes to meeting the health and safety requirements related to COVID-19, open architecture components make it easy to deploy an occupancy management solution on an existing security system. This allows buildings to standardize, digitize, and automate standard operating procedures (SOP) for personnel. And, if the nature of the threat changes, these SOPs can be modified to reflect the new requirements.
Managing Occupancy is Key for Successful Reopening
An occupancy management solution differs from a traditional access control system (ACS). Generally speaking, it uses the cameras already deployed in a physical security system to generate real-time data that video analytics can use in a variety of ways, including people counting and trend analysis.
For example, when the number of people in building amenities, including conference rooms or gyms, reaches a certain threshold, the solution can automatically trigger real-time alerts or actions to better manage the situation. The solution can issue physical distancing alerts or send notifications to operations staff to start limiting the number of people entering those spaces.
By tracking the flow of people through a building, an occupancy management solution can also automate cleaning processes. Traditionally, cleaning operations were carried out according to a fixed schedule. But, with the possibility that the virus can survive on hard surfaces, the frequency of touch-point cleaning has to be approached differently.
More Effective Cleaning Protocols
Looking at cleaning activities from the perspective of traffic flow and risk-prone populations means that, for example, entrances to medical offices will require more frequent cleaning than the entrances to other spaces. We know that, while some touchpoints will have to be cleaned daily, other areas, like medical offices, washrooms, and elevators, will require cleaning multiple times per day.
“By tracking the movement of people through a building in real-time and analyzing trends over time, and occupancy management solution helps property and facility managers adapt operational and safety plans, for example adjusting their cleaning programs to minimize the risk of contamination,” says Nada Ebeid, who is the Business Development Manager for Genetec Canada and oversees the market growth for the Financial and Banking sector, as well as the Property Management and Construction sector in Canada.
People counting can be used to send notifications to building personnel or cleaning crews that an area needs to be cleaned once a preset threshold for people moving through that area has been reached. Also, using video analytics, an occupancy management solution can identify those areas that require more frequent cleaning and help establish more effective cleaning schedules.
Supporting Contact Tracing
Medical experts agree that contact tracing is important for effectively reducing the spread of COVID-19. The ability to identify, educate, and monitor people who have had close contact with an individual who is infected or suspected of being infected is crucial. When building personnel can determine exactly where an individual has been and who they have come in contact with, they can act swiftly to mitigate the risk of further transmission.
Technology can help the commercial real estate industry with contact tracing. As Ebeid explains, “An occupancy management solution, using video and ACS data, can track the movements of individuals within the environment, detailing where they were and when.” With this information, property and facility managers can respond quickly and accurately to contact tracing initiatives.
Where Edge Devices Can Help
Buildings are also looking to add IoT devices that can help reduce risk and maintain physical distancing. One example is touchless technology. According to Ebeid, “Using biometrics or QR codes to open a gate or entry point into a building keeps people from coming into contact with potentially contaminated surfaces.” In addition to reducing the number of touchpoints, touchless door openers can also ensure that washrooms are cleaned optimally since an occupancy management solution can use the data to calculate the number of people who have used the stalls.
Thermal cameras that measure body temperature can also help prevent the spread of the virus within a building. When the system detects a raised body temperature, that person can be sent for secondary medical screenings to determine whether or not they carry the virus. Based on clear medication testing, future actions, including self-quarantining and contact tracing, can then be implemented.
Keep an Eye on Cybersecurity
Many of the solutions for facilitating a safe return to occupancy require adding new devices to a building’s existing network. We know from experience that connecting more IoT devices increases a network’s vulnerability to cybercrime. In its Cyber Wellness Guide, BOMA Canada outlines steps for securing a building’s network, including addressing cyber vulnerabilities related to new technologies being added to help with the reopening.
Property and facility managers must be able to easily update critical firmware regularly to protect their network’s infrastructure. To eliminate or reduce potential points of vulnerability, Genetec offers solutions that help the commercial real estate industry keep its systems and devices operating with the latest updates. Security Center 5.7, for example, automatically identifies edge devices and cameras on the system that need firmware updates, helping assure network protection and integrity.
Looking Ahead
The unprecedented actions that we have already undertaken to protect our communities from COVID-19 make it clear that buildings cannot be locked into proprietary solutions that do not protect us as circumstances change. Buildings that have an open architecture physical security system already have the flexibility to decide which devices serve them best.
As the process of reopening unfolds, property and facility managers will have to update policies and procedures continually and proactively in their buildings. In addition to changes in how, where, and when we work, they will also have to adhere to new health and safety guidelines. Doing this clearly and consistently will help give everyone the peace of mind necessary to embrace our new normal and keep our economy moving.
About the author: Ty Miller is the Business Development Manager for Genetec in the Northeast USA. Ty has spent 15 years in the security industry working for various security integrators and manufacturers. Ty joined Genetec in 2017 and works closely with the property management and real estate development firms in the major metro areas of the Northeast, as well as in the healthcare and critical infrastructure industries.
