RESPONSE

COVID-19 Self-Testing Stations

Introduction

A worldwide pandemic of respiratory illness called Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted several businesses around the world. Many are left unmanaged, and are going out of business, leaving the community without jobs. While many businesses have been forced to shut down permanently, New World Innovations, Inc. has developed a way to get our business back up and running, bringing employees back to work while functioning within pandemic compliance.

We will install an automated COVID-19 self-testing station outside of our business entrance. This project is an environmentally friendly way to reduce the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and waste. The project will utilize cost effective measures to test employees for signs and symptoms of the virus such as a fever, before they enter their building by eliminating the need to employ specific staff for screening. Additionally, implementation of this testing station will decrease the use of cleaning supplies. This will help with budget needs as cleaning supplies are in limited supply and the cost of them have increased. The implementation of the testing station will also reduce person to person contact by automating the testing process. Ensuring public and employee safety is a priority, so keeping these stations outside keeps a safe social distance and the virus out of the building.

Business Needs

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the closing of our office building for three months. Based upon recommendations of reopening guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), we decided to screen for the virus potential of anyone who enters our building (Resuming Business, 2020). This includes a screening of body temperature to make sure no one with a fever enters the building. At the present, we are employing staff to stand at the entrance of the building and, using a thermometer scan gun, take the temperature of the person who wants to enter. This involves not only personnel cost and the related disposable PPE they use such as face masks and gloves, but this method also puts that employee at risk each time they screen the entrant. In a desire to reduce overall cost of COVID-19 prevention, to reduce the environmental impact of the disposable PPE used by screeners, and implement contactless screening, we propose building and installing a self-directed screening station at the entrance of the building. We have the technology, qualified staff and facilities to build this fairly quickly onsite. The station will include an automatic temperature reading. If the user does not have a fever, the word “Approved” will print out on a slip of paper, accompanied by a picture of the user’s face, and time and date the temperature was taken. They will show their approval paper to a receptionist who is sitting behind the recently installed protective glass. Persons without this paper will not be allowed to enter the building. The paper used is made from recycled products and the paper itself will then be recycled, reducing our carbon footprint in the process. This contactless screening station will allow us to comply with CDC recommendations for prevention of disease spread, while protecting our employees and maintain our commitment to being environmentally friendly. Using our own building as a test site, a successful implementation may in turn lead to a new business line of providing such stations to other businesses.

As the world continues to battle with COVID-19, changes need to be made to ensure that returning to work and daily living is safe. The current method of using people to test employees who enter the building is costly and increases contact between people. The goal of this project is to adopt a new method of automated Coronavirus symptom testing for employees to return to work and reduce the contact with individuals who may be positive for the disease. Objectives for this project include implementing an efficient and effective technology to test employees for COVID-19 symptoms on a daily basis and accurately identify associates with a possible positive diagnosis. Another objective is to reduce the environmental waste of PPE being used by the testers by 90 percent. Reducing human error by automating the testing can also prevent associates with COVID-19 symptoms from entering the workspace and increasing chances of spread of infection.

The organization needs to be able to create an increased budget for the energy bill as the automated system will use electricity from the building to function. There will also need to be a backup plan in the case the electricity goes out rendering the testing machines in-operable. There will be a learning curve for employees as they learn how to use the machine properly so as to lead to accurate results.

There are few risks associated with this project. One known risk is the possibility of unreliable results allowing associates who possibly have COVID-19 into the building and potentially infecting other employees. Although there are not many, the risks of this project are magnified as the potential failure could lead to a greater societal impact and should be taken very seriously. If this project fails, the company could risk their reputation as there may be a rapid spread of the disease in the community due to the failure of testing for COVID-19 in this project.

Decision criteria that will be used to assess courses of action include criteria that is required, desired, and optional (Project Management Institute, 2017, p. 31). The required criteria is the technology and equipment being used must be reliable, effective, and efficient to ensure accurate reporting of results. The desired criteria for this project are equipment that is energy efficient and does not require a lot of electricity to operate at full capacity. It is also desired that the equipment and test are easy to operate, and results can be interpreted without misunderstanding. The optional criteria would be to have the equipment be small and less intrusive, taking up less space in the entrance of the building.

COVID-19 has affected businesses in various ways, and as a result some businesses have had to create new methods and procedures to resume work while maintaining safety. The safety of the employees is especially important; therefore, it is essential to the company to establish a safe work environment for them. To guarantee an employee safety, it is recommended we install a self-directed screening station outside of the building for employees to utilize prior to entering. There will be a feasibility study involving 20% of employees to make sure the project will be effective. During the feasibility study, the employees will be evaluated on how they will utilize the self-directed screening station. The staff conducting the trial is required to complete the online training before the feasibility date. The feasibility study can either be successful, or unsuccessful and if any unexpected problems should arise, the issue will be corrected, and a new feasibility date will be scheduled. Once the feasibility study is successful, more employees will be scheduled to return to the building until all employees have returned.

The project management team will play a significant role in implementing the self-directed screening station. Assumptions and constraints carry out an important role in forming a risk plan, therefore, the project team must analyze these (Usmani, 2019). The plan will be built around the participation of the team and senior management. The importance of management reviews of the testing station and communication with the key stakeholders and senior management will continue upon completion of the project.

The forecast of the project is as follows:

· The project is estimated to start September 6, 2020

· The project is expected to end November 10, 2020.

· The estimated budget of the project is $100, 000 to start, prices are subject to change

· Research for needed equipment

· New screening stations

· New online training about how to use the screening station

If the self-directed station project implementation is successful, we will advertise for businesses to hire our project management team so other companies can employ us to take on similar projects. The goal is to help as many businesses as possible to have their employees return to work in a safe environment by implementing the self-directed screening station.

References

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK Guide) (6th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: PMI.

Simplified Scoring Model

Next World Innovations, Inc. evaluated three candidate projects: an electronic document filing system, renovating a school for COVID-19 compliance, and installing a COVID-19 temperature monitoring system. All candidate projects were considered due to their relevance worldwide.

Electronic Document Filing System

Creating a digitalized system to transition all hard copy documents into an E-filing system. This will allow the company to become eco-friendly. Additionally, it would allow employees to access information from anywhere at any time. As companies become technologically advanced, an E-filing system would ensure that processes are up to date.

School Renovation

Renovating a school to meet COVID-19 guidelines will ensure that schools are meeting health standards as students and educators return to the classroom. Currently students of all ages are not able to attend school in person due to the pandemic. This renovation will adhere to CDC guidelines, providing a safe environment for students and educators to learn and work.

COVID-19 Temperature Monitoring Stations

Currently, we employ staff to take the temperatures of anyone wishing to enter our building. With the current set up, the person to person contact is increased for every individual that comes into contact with check in staff. PPE is being discarded at a fast rate. Gloves are required to be changed in between each person and the temperature monitor cleaned before and after each use. To ensure that the organization is monitoring employee health prior to entrance while decreasing the use of PPE and cleaning supplies, a hands-free temperature monitoring system will be installed. This system will be cost effective and minimize human contact while maintaining safety.

Evaluation Criteria

Each project was evaluated utilizing five selection criteria: cost, social impact, economic impact, project length, and development risk. Each criterion was given an importance weight between 1 and 3. An importance weight of 1 is considered not as important as a score of 3. Each category was then given a score based on the specific criteria within each candidate project. A scoring system between 1-10 was used. A score of 10 indicates the best possible outcome whereas a score of 1 is the worst possible outcome. The importance weight was then multiplied by the score to obtain a weighted score for each criterion. The candidate with the highest total score was chosen: Installing a COVID-19 temperature monitoring station.