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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS…. How do people counting checkpoints work?

Even though there is talk about reducing the 2 metre social distancing rule to at least 1 metre in certain industries where 2 metres is not possible or practical, it is likely we are going to have to live with some form of social distancing measures in place for the foreseeable future.

When it comes to your business, if you need to control the number of people entering and leaving your premises to ensure safety, there are various options available to you.

By now, you are likely to have seen staff standing at shop doors with hand-held devices, literally counting people as they enter and exit the building. Whilst this may be a suitable approach in certain environments, there are more sophisticated methods of people counting available on the market, which may be more suitable for your business.

For example, if you have a networked CCTV system installed at your premises, you may be able to upgrade this to include specialist people counting cameras at entry and exit points. Alternatively, you can have a people flow system installed. These systems work by special cameras being installed at entry and exit points, with alarms being set to notify staff when maximum capacity has been reached, in conjunction with speakers that either welcome visitors and indicate that they are allowed to enter, or inform them that maximum capacity has been reached and ask them to wait for their signal to enter.

Whilst people flow systems are currently very useful in managing numbers in terms of social distancing, they can be useful for other management purposes, such as assessing peak times to ensure staffing levels are accurate, and can therefore be a long-term addition to your business.