A new easy-to-use app from UG2 ensures that every employee prioritizes safety for every shift worked
When COVID-19 alerts were first being issued, UG2 did what many companies were requiring: Employees filled out paperwork at the start of every shift about whether they’d been experiencing symptoms or had been exposed to the virus at home. But it didn’t take long for this to be a cumbersome process — as well as only minimally useful. After all, the paper logs couldn’t be easily searched, they were only stored as a stack of papers that grew thicker by the day.
Focused on innovation from the core, UG2’s information technology team knew there had to be a better way. So, they built one.
Using an existing app called codeREADr, they created the UG2 Health Check app, known as UHC, that uses a simple, smartphone-based survey that site managers could use for every employee at the start of every shift. The survey includes questions about COVID symptoms like sore throat, headache, and fever, as well as potential exposure through family members or friends.
Employee info is accessed by an NFC chip embedded within a plastic badge, so it’s easily scanned into the system, reducing input time even more. A supervisor simply needs to tap the badge for the survey to appear on the mobile device. Efficiency continues to increase as employees become more familiar with the survey questions.
Another advantage is that the data can be presented in clear and readable electronic reports — replacing the need for any paper-based storage.
Better Control Means More Safety
With UHC, health and symptom information isn’t just in a stack of papers somewhere in the management office. Customers and supervisors can access their unique site report from anywhere with a network connection to assist with contact tracing or analyze safety trends.
Currently, UHC is utilized at 17 UG2 partner sites, encompassing 5,346 employees in California, New York, and Massachusetts. UG2 is considering rolling it out to more sites in the future as needed, and leveraging the technology for post-pandemic needs, as well.
Even with vaccinations still in full swing, we’re obviously still a long way from being past this pandemic. Having data that is easily accessible and searchable is a major step for ensuring higher levels of safety at every site.
Together with UDL
The every-shift health check is just one aspect of the technology-driven approach to safety at UG2. Early in the pandemic, the company’s IT department created the UG2 Disinfection Log — called UDL for short — to track disinfection more easily. Cleaners use a smartphone to tap a chip embedded in their ID badge and answer a few questions in a dropdown menu, such as where and when work was performed.
The answers are recorded in an electronic database that meets state requirements for disinfection reporting. Like UHC, the logs don’t require any paperwork and can be securely and electronically stored, as well as searched and sorted based on the customer’s need.
With efforts like UHC and UDL, as well as other technology initiatives, UG2 is making good on one of its foundational promises: adopting and developing innovative solutions that benefit our customers. It’s this focus on what our customers require most and ensuring solutions are easy to use and reliable, that highlights UG2’s commitment to being a true strategic partner to our customers.