General Motors announced it has developed new technology to aid workplace safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the company is sharing its innovations with the world for potential use in job sites as diverse as manufacturing plants, offices or even schools. The new technologies include an automated kiosk for temperature scanning, software for contact tracing and a mobile app for touchless printing.
While developed to aid the company’s workplace protocols, GM has made these tools available to the public for potential use in any workplace, school or facility, GM said in a press statement.
“We developed an extensive playbook for a safe return to work for our employees, and we’re seeing very good success,” said Dr. Jeffery Hess, GM medical director. “As we implemented the protocols, GM software developers started to work on how technology could make the process smoother and more precise.”
GM’s in-house software developers innovated solutions aimed at helping employees return to work with more confidence, streamlining and improving workplace safety protocols.
“We had to respond quickly to the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic created for our workforce,” said Randy Mott, GM executive vice president and chief information officer. “Our teams collaborated online with experts around the world to quickly innovate and support the safe return of our employees to the workplace. We know many of these challenges affect others globally. We felt it important to share our innovation so other companies, organizations and institutions could benefit from our experience.”
“We believe our application advances the state of the art when it comes to mobile apps for contact tracing, which is the subject of massive software development efforts across multiple industries today,” said Tony Bolton, GM chief information officer of Global Telecommunications and End-User Services.
GM is testing a mobile app that would create a record for the employee, listing other users with whom he or she has been in contact. It can help medical staff reach employees that had contact with a worker testing positive for COVID-19, while maintaining privacy and security. The app also constantly computes the physical distance between users and can send an alert to help encourage safe behavior. GM is planning a pilot to test the application soon.
The new Touchless Print mobile web application now enables employees to print documents without touching the printer’s control panel, leveraging instead a QR code scanned through the employee’s mobile phone.
“Touchless printing is a first step, as the team is also working on using technology to make other daily activities more hands-free,” Bolton said.
This app is in use now at GM facilities worldwide, for iOS and Android devices, and exclusive to HP printers, GM said.
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