Kirkland based AristaPoint, an employee benefits agency, recently announced Safe Work Return, a new program to help Washington State companies resume business. Pat Chestnut and Matt Shaffer of AristaPoint appeared on the CEOtoCEO live stream to explain AristaPoint’s new Safe Work Return risk-management program to prevent COVID-19 infections in the workplace.

“There’s a lot of remote work happening. . . but we’re seeing some mental health issues increasing.” Isolated workers are becoming less satisfied and less efficient. “Work productivity and effectiveness just aren’t able to bounce back to the levels when we were all in the office together,” said Shaffer. “Many employees want to be back in the office. We have to ask ourselves, is avoidance really the right, or the only, way to keep moving forward? We think there’s a smarter way.”

“That’s the reason we created Safe Work Return,” Chestnut continued. “Safe Work Return is a multi-layered risk-management solution that includes Baseline Testing, a Symptom Checker software piece, and an Activity Tracker that has risk education for employees.”

Chestnut revealed that baseline testing was an essential starting point for companies to identify infected employees and take any initial steps needed to prevent them infecting their coworkers or family members. He also noted that, “COVID testing is so intrusive. A lot of people aren’t getting tested for that reason.” Companies are also waiting up to 14 days for results, which is also reducing the usefulness of testing.

“That’s why we partnered with BioIQ,” said Chestnut. “The BioIQ test is a saliva-based test, so it’s very simple: it can be done by the employee in a couple of minutes at their desk. It’s non-invasive and doesn’t require a swab. Turnaround is in 48 hours, so the employer can see results quickly.” Chestnut emphasized that baseline testing was important to help prevent disruptions in business operation, potential legal liabilities, or even bad press from an outbreak in the company.

The next piece of the program is the Symptom Checker, which is a web-based survey that helps prevent potentially infected employees from entering the workplace. “It asks some basic, simple questions based on CDC guidelines,” said Chestnut. Employees receive a daily email reminding them to complete the survey, and the employer is notified if any employees did not complete the survey. If employees report no symptoms, they proceed to having their temperature checked. Temperature is also entered into the Symptom Checker, and symptom and temperature data is stored securely.

The Activity Tracker addresses a question many employers are asking, which Shaffer reiterated: “How do I proactively help my people understand what the risks of their activities are?” The Activity Tracker is another web-based survey that follows the Symptom Checker. When completed it assigns a daily risk score to the employee’s daily activities. This provides employers a way to educate their employees about the COVID-19 risks of different activities, helping the employer and employee manage COVID-19 risk in an interactive way that promotes conversation.

Chestnut concluded by saying, “There’s no software to download. There’s no apps to download on to people’s cellphones. It’s a really simple web-based system, but it puts it all in one place, and creates that ever-important employee record. We built this program so it would integrate everything together and be simple to implement.” Chestnut said that most companies can implement Safe Work Return in the workplace within a week.

For more information about the Safe Work Return program by AristaPoint, please visit www.SafeWorkReturn.com, or call AristaPoint at (425) 968-0545.