IISc tool can help firms check readiness, safe return to work spaces

BENGALURU: Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed an advisory tool for companies to know how ready they are to safely return to work places in an environment that minimizes — or even eliminates — Covid-19 spread.

Called the Covid-19 Workplace Readiness Indicator (Covid-19 WRI), this advisory tool can enable organisations to understand their current level of preparedness to return to workplaces. It will also help them plan and establish pandemic-specific policies and necessary management practices.

The tool is simple and easy to use. An organisation can enter relevant information about their workplace and their current level of operation. Readiness is calculated using ten specific indices, each with a maximum score of 100. These include infrastructure, precautions, awareness and readiness, advertisement & outreach, employee mobility, employees’ contacts, meetings, transportation, canteen/pantry, hygiene and sanitation. The overall readiness index is the sum of the individual readiness indices. The tool then scores the organisation’s readiness across various categories and provides a consolidated report.

“The tool not only scores an organisation’s readiness, but also provides some targeted suggestions if specific weaknesses are identified,” says Nihesh Rathod, a Cisco-IISc PhD scholar at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, IISc, who helped develop the tool.

The Covid-19 WRI takes into account broad epidemic factors and social objectives, and suggests a simple readiness threshold that organisations need to meet or exceed in order to operate effectively.

They can then decide for themselves their best mix (shifts, precautions taken, company advisories, etc.) to maximise their business objectives, the researchers said.

“Once enough organisations use the tool, each organisation can see where it stands among others of the same kind. Such a comparison may induce organisations to be proactive and take more positive steps towards mitigating the pandemic,” says project lead Rajesh Sundaresan, Professor, Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, IISc.

The online self-assessment tool has been developed by IISc’s new Centre for Networked Intelligence in collaboration with the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority and with support from Cisco under its Corporate Social Responsibility.

“Organisations will need to take a holistic approach to restarting. Emerging from the lockdown, companies and workplaces will need to be more vigilant about health and increase their demands on safety,” says Manoj Rajan, Commissioner, KSDMA.