New technologies provide accurate, real-time counts of occupancy and people flow to help campus managers better allocate resources and provide a richer, safer campus experience beyond COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted campus life like no other event before it. Some campuses closed completely, others were partially open. Some opened and then closed again. For campus facilities managers, the innumerable challenges of keeping students, faculty, and staff safe while requirements fluctuate have been staggering.
Campus Life Requirements The one certainty is that campus life will return in some form in the not-too-distant future and there will be requirements to manage the flow of people throughout the campus to ensure everyone’s safety so that campuses can stay open. There are occupancy compliance technologies available that allow campus managers to accurately automate the counting of people coming in and out of buildings and rooms, and to advise people when it’s safe — or not — to enter a specific area. Real-time occupancy monitoring provides assurance that measures are in place to keep people safe without the need for additional staff.
Occupancy monitoring systems count people entering or exiting buildings, allowing managers to access real-time data indicating the number of people within their campus. Putting these sensors in individual rooms, such as lecture halls, study rooms, laboratories, libraries or communal areas, also allows occupancy tracking on a room-to-room basis to ensure social distancing guidelines and occupancy restrictions are met throughout the campus.
Setting an occupancy limit and pairing the system with visual display screens and auditory alerts mean anyone walking into these areas will be able to immediately see if they are safe to enter and ensures students, faculty, and staff do not exceed those regulations.
Adopting the use of occupancy monitoring helps managers overcome the challenge of meeting the new requirements throughout the campus.
This article originally appeared in the March / April 2021 issue of Campus Security & Life Safety.
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