Mineral Resources (MRL) has introduced Bluetooth contact tracing technology at its sites and headquarters to ensure operations continue as normal.
MRL is the first Australian resource company to deploy SaferMe’s innovative technology, as contact tracing is key to breaking the chains of transmission of COVID-19 through rapid case isolation and management, as well as to quarantining contacts.
SaferMe’s portable Bluetooth cards will be used by MRL staff and visitors to automate the process, with each card detecting contact duration when one card is within range of another.
“MRL has developed a comprehensive management plan to outline clear procedures and actions to prevent COVID-19 from entering our operations and to enable us to quickly and safely manage cases if it does,” said said MRL chief executive Paul Brown.
“Contact tracing will be an essential part of our response if we detect a positive case of COVID-19, ensuring that we can keep our employees, their families and our communities safe, and that our operations are running.
The SaferMe system takes the guesswork out of contact tracing and will streamline the process of identifying close contacts and activating control measures if a positive case is detected at any of MRL’s sites or offices.
“Our customers are some of the largest companies in the world – doing their best to protect the well-being of their employees and seeking to ensure business continuity,” said Clint van Marrewijk, chief executive of SaferMe.
“Mineral Resources is an excellent example of this, and we appreciated our partnership in this project. »
Automated contact tracing is just one part of MRL’s comprehensive COVID-19 management plan, which includes regular rapid antigen testing for its Perth metropolitan employees, PCR testing for the onsite workforce and free face masks.
To support the wider resource sector, MRL has made PCR testing facilities available to over 60 companies over the past 18 months.
It comes a week after a BHP contractor tested positive at the Yandi iron ore mine in the Pilbara, and a 29Metals worker at a Yalgoo mine in the Midwest also tested positive.
The cases have forced nearly 100 workers into isolation, a situation MRL hopes to avoid with the implementation of SaferMe technology.
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