With COVID-19 related restrictions easing and many workplaces slowly resuming work, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in collaboration with the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), has developed a ‘Workplace Readiness Indicator’, an online self-assessment advisory tool that helps organisations establish pandemic-specific policies and practices.
“The indicator is an advisory tool that can enable organisations to understand their current level of preparedness and key risk areas. It will also help them plan and establish pandemic-specific policies, procedures, and necessary management practices,” said a release.
How does it work
Any organisation can enter information about their workplace and current level of operation. “Readiness is calculated using 10 specific indices, each with a maximum score of 100. These include infrastructure, precautions, outreach, employee interactions, transport, details of eateries, hygiene and sanitation,” said the release.
Rajesh Sundaresan, Professor, Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, IISc, and project lead said: “Once enough organisations use the tool, each organisation can see where it stands among other organisations of the same kind. Such a comparison may induce organisations to be proactive and take more positive steps towards mitigating the pandemic.”
According to the release, the tool 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.
Manoj Rajan, Commissioner, KSDMA, said organisations would need to take a holistic approach on restarting to contain the spread of COVID-19 and stay safe. “Emerging from the lockdown, companies and workplaces will need to be more vigilant about health and increase their demands on safety,” he said. The project was carried out with the help of CSR fund from Cisco. Those interested can get information at https://covid.readiness.in . The open source software can be downloaded from github: https://github.com/cni-iisc/work place-readiness
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