Air Canada to Test Contact Tracing Wearable and App for Employees

Image: aircanada.com

According to the HRReporter, Canada’s largest airline is all set to test out a new contact tracing technology for its employees that uses wearable devices and a Bluetooth-enabled app.

TraceScan, the technology behind the app Air Canada will be testing, was designed locally in Canada — in collaboration with researchers from the University of Waterloo — with a specific emphasis on functionality in populated workplaces with a lack of cellular connectivity.

“TraceSCAN is an AI-powered solution for contact tracing in the workplace which can track staff exposure to COVID-19 without GPS information,” said William Melek, mechanical engineering and mechatronics professor at the University of Waterloo.

Presumably, the app is able to perform fairly accurate risk-based assessments of a person’s exposure to the virus even in a densely populated workplace, even without cellular connectivity of any kind or GPS information.

“The health and safety of our employees is of paramount concern to Air Canada and is key to restoring our operations safely for our customers,” said Vice President of Safety at Air Canada Samuel Elfassy. Of course, contact tracing is doubly beneficial for Air Canada and other companies as it can contribute to a decrease of up to 50% in the loss of working hours.

Sayan Navaratnam, chairman and CEO at Facedrive said the technology is beneficial as numerous Air Canada employees work where using cellular technology is not possible.

The TraceScan project will supplement the COVID Alert App — Canada’s official contact tracing app — and is going to be tested at Air Canada soon.