South African Facial Recognition startup Kenai introduces COVID-19 screening feature for businesses.

South African office management and facial recognition startup Kenai, has introduced a new feature that helps businesses screen employees for COVID-19 as the country prepares to end the lockdown.

Kenai leverages facial recognition technology to transform visitor’s books in offices with a slip iPad application, enabling companies to manage people entering their buildings.

While South Africa is planning to reopen businesses, some laid down requirements such as daily screening of workers must be followed.

Such a requirement can be very challenging since most businesses do not have the tools for daily screening.

Speaking of the matter, CEO of Kenai, James Lightbody said, “We have done exactly that, managing on-site and offsite screening in a single affordable solution using the trusted Kenai architecture. Leveraging the work done from the visitor product, we are able to roll out the employee screening solution rapidly and avoid locking customers into a long contract when the product will likely only be needed for a limited time period.”

For starters, employees answer their daily screening questions through a web link on their phones or laptops. Their answers are stored securely on a web dashboard that meets data privacy requirements.

When employees arrive at the premises of the company, their temperatures must be checked using a handheld device. This poses a difficulty since the employee’s questionnaire must be linked to the temperature reading and to upload the reading on every worker’s profile.

However, Kenai is able to do this through various means, which include facial recognition, QR code reading, driver’s license scan, and a manual employee number entry.

Once the employee has been identified, the third party records the temperature, inputs it in the scanning device, and confirms if the employee is wearing their PPE or mask.

Thereafter, the Kenai scanner will display whether the employee can move into the office or not.

Also, Notifications are automatically sent to relevant staff members if certain responses are recorded. The entire process is non-intrusive, contactless, and takes seconds on-site.

Furthermore, employee profiles are updated on the dashboard in real-time.

“Not only can company administrators download monthly reports, but they can be sent daily notifications on certain answers being captured, or certain employees not completing their pre-screen before a certain time. The flexibility of the system means that companies can design their own COVID-19 procedures using the base tools that Kenai provides,” Lightbody added.

Kenai was founded in 2016.