A Sarnia software development company has created an app to help businesses with COVID-19 screening and contact tracing, if infection should occur.
“I actually wanted to do something for my own organization but also help other businesses,” said Katherine Walker of IndustrialWebApps.
The app, Check’N, launched early this fall and is designed to simplify the screening process, making it so companies don’t have to worry about managing a paper trail, she said.
Companies that sign up create their own private databases so employees get a screening survey every time before they’re scheduled to start work, she said.
Answers about any symptoms, travel, and potential contact with others with confirmed or probable COVID-19 are stored with time and date stamps, and can be provided to public health if needed for contact tracing, Walker said.
“If later someone tested positive … then you know everyone who needs to be contacted who potentially was exposed.”
All the information is owned by the user company, she added.
Beta testing included local manufacturing, fabrication businesses, restaurants, and the Rocking the Runway Sarnia Drive-In Concert in October, she said.
The company is also working with Tourism Sarnia-Lambton as part of its participation in the Safe Travels program that’s designed to boost consumer confidence, she said.
So far “a couple dozen” businesses are using the application. It’s been challenging to connect with the right people to encourage uptake, Walker said.
Not every business knows that screening employees before they enter the workplace has been required in Ontario since September, she said.
Cost for Check’N starts at $12 per month, she said.
“I didn’t do this sort of to make $1 million.” she said. “I priced it so I could just help my fellow business owners.”
Her company of 16 is normally focused on training and consulting for an IWA application that organizes workflow, safety documents and information.
“This was sort of a shift from our normal operations; but it was one we wanted to do,” she said.