Pulse solution enables COVID-19 risk management for industry

Bat Booth unit

Companies using Australian-made Bat Booth® to reduce the risk of CWP and silicosis can now monitor the body temperature of workers on multiple sites. With technology developed by Pulse, site managers can get automatic alerts if a potential virus carrier is detected.

Bat Booth unit

Bat Booth® is helping to reduce health risks for personnel working at mining and quarrying sites in Australia and throughout the world.

Bat Booth® units can assist with the safe continuation of essential mining and quarrying operations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Real-time dashboard visualisations and reports give managers greater visibility and control over workforce health, providing much-needed reassurance to employees and contractors, their families, and communities.

METS sector collaboration facilitates innovation

Manufactured in Melbourne by Mideco and sold globally, Bat Booth® was originally marketed as a simple but effective device for reducing the risk to workers from dust-related respiratory illnesses. A strategic alliance between Mideco and Pulse Mining Systems led to the development of real-time BI dashboards for site supervisors and safety managers to ensure personnel are using Bat Booth® as often as required by workplace policy.

Fast-forward to the announcement of a pandemic and Mideco rapidly equipped Bat Booth® with apparatus for checking the body temperature of users. This real-time health data feeds back into Pulse dashboards for instant management visibility. Aggregated benchmarking data will show how a company’s health management is faring compared to the rest of the industry.

“There can be no upside to COVID-19 but it’s a privilege for Pulse to be contributing towards greater safety for people working in mining and quarrying at the present time,” said Ash Bosworth, managing director and CEO of Pulse. “Mideco is an Australian company and like Pulse, making innovative products in Australia to assist industries around the world.”

Managing onsite COVID-19 risk from remote dashboards

Bat Booth® is operated onsite by users via a built-in tablet with simple login. Live usage data is relayed to a secure, multi-tenanted platform by Pulse-driven data integration and analysis to produce multi-level dashboard visualisations and reports that managers can access from anywhere. Managers in different roles at different sites can have their own specific dashboard views, and head-office can view multiple sites on one dashboard, with instant drill-down to details on individuals. Whenever Bat Booth® detects a significant increase in a user’s normal temperature, suggesting the possible presence of viral infection, the anomaly is immediately visible on the dashboard and notified to managers by email or mobile alert. Managers can take the appropriate next actions without any delay.

Fast-tracked to meet challenges of global pandemic

Melton White, managing director of Mideco, said, “It was always our intention to extend Bat Booth capabilities beyond the core function of dust-related disease prevention into other forms of occupational health and risk management. COVID-19 compelled us to fast-track the implementation of body-temperature monitoring and we upgraded Bat Booth® electronics for digital interfacing. Rapid response by Pulse allowed us to bring the more powerful version of Bat Booth® to the mining and quarrying industries when it’s most needed – right now.”

How the original Bat Booth® design minimizes the health risks associated with occupations such as quarrying and mining. The new model has been made intelligent using Pulse-developed technology.

For more information about Bat Booth® contact Mideco on 1300 643 320 (within Australia) or +613 8873 0200 (international), email sales@mideco.com.au, or visit their website.