Canada’s busiest airport has outfitted its frontline employees with digital devices that help them reinforce social distancing with each other and rapidly enable workplace contact tracing in the event of a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.

The wearable safety alert devices are the latest initiative introduced by the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), operator of Toronto Pearson International Airport, which collaborated with its IT partner, Wipro Limited to develop the technology.

Part of Pearson’s Healthy Airport program and issued to 1,000 staff members, the Covid Safety Alert (CSA) device is a small, clip-on device that employees can wear on their belt, coat, or lanyard. It notifies the wearer when they are less than two metres away from another CSA device by buzzing and flashing. The devices also record each time they come into contact with another device in a confidential log that is used to enable workplace tracing if required.

“We continue to be a leader when it comes to healthy airport policies, procedures and technologies that protect our passengers and workers from COVID-19,” said GTAA president and CEO, Deborah Flint, adding, “In addition to worker testing and airport employer COVID reporting, the introduction of COVID Safety Alert devices provides another layer of safety, both for our valued employees and for the communities we serve.”

“Digital transformation is at the core of (Pearson’s) Healthy Airport program,” said Wipro VP and Country Head – Canada, Amit Majithia. “The CSA Solution, leveraging Wipro’s EngineeringNXT capabilities across wearables, IOT, connectivity and analytics, is an example of collaboration and re-imagination… We are striving for continuous innovation at the GTAA.”

Airport Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Edward Wasser, commented: “Physical distancing and contact tracing are two important measures for preventing the spread of COVID-19. While it is accepted that only about 1% of COVID-19 cases in Canada result from contact with a traveller, the deployment of COVID Safety Alert devices to GTAA employees, the latest innovation in the ongoing Healthy Airport program, adds an extra layer of safety to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Canada.”

ACI Awards

Meanwhile, for the fourth year in a row, Toronto Pearson has been named “Best Large Airport in North America serving more than 40 million passengers” by Airports Council International (ACI) – World, the global trade representative of the world’s airports.

The award comes as part of ACI World’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) program, which recognizes airports across the globe that deliver the best customer experience in the opinion of their own passengers. ASQ is the world’s only program that surveys passengers in the airport on the day they travel, while the experience is fresh in their minds.

Passengers also gave Pearson the nod for “Best hygiene measures by region” in North America – a new category introduced this year based on pandemic.