Case Study

In a continuous effort to ensure workplace safety and regulatory compliance, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), a prominent entity, recognized the need for effective space occupancy monitoring. By partnering with Spica Technologies, they aimed to utilize innovative solutions that not only enhance safety protocols but also streamline regulatory adherence.

DWP faced the challenge of ensuring that their spaces adhere to occupancy regulations while providing a secure and compliant environment for occupants. The occupancy levels need to be monitored and managed in real-time at a floor level, allowing FM teams to react before total capacity levels are breached to ensure a safe working environment that is compliance with fire safety regulations.

To address this challenge, DWP engaged Spica to implement an advanced Space Occupancy Monitoring system that leverages cutting-edge sensors and analytics to provide real-time occupancy data.

“Our primary use case for engaging with Spica and their footfall occupancy solution was to help us meet capacity limits of the building and floors as set by our Fire Risk Assessment.”

David Travis, Digital Spaces Strategy & Delivery Manager, Department for Work and Pensions

Footfall sensors are installed at all entrance and exit points to the building and individual floors, this data is received, processed and analysed in real-time in the GemEx Engine® platform. Capacity limits and alarms are set to trigger when these are breached, these settings can be adjusted as required. FM staff subscribe to notifications over email or SMS. Live views can be displayed on TV screens around the building for the benefit of employees and accessed by FM staff on their mobile devices. All captured data, including full alarm audit history is stored in the platform, there are options for viewing this in charts or exporting it for offline analysis.

The solution that Spica offers allows us to view real time occupancy levels across the building. Alert notifications can be configured in the platform so we are notified by sms or email when certain capacity thresholds are beached. Through having the system we are able to view real time and historical occupancy data for analysis in both the platform and offline as well. This is enabling us to make workspace decisions based on hard evidence and trends rather than assumptions and manual people counting.

 

A spin off use case has been to launch a live data feed to the staff on floor level screens. Employees are now able to see which floors are busiest and relocate to quieter areas. From analysis of the data we hope to also advise employees to work from home during peak times. This is helping to support our smarter working initiative and flexible working approach. As we gather greater knowledge of how the building is used, we envisage this could also allow for potential shut down of areas and energy saving initiatives.

 

Spica have been a good collaborative partner for the DWP overcoming some initial installation complications and being open to configuring part of the solution specific to us.”

David Travis, Digital Spaces Strategy & Delivery Manager, Department for Work and Pensions

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This revised case study format highlights the accomplishments and challenges of Department for Work and Pensions to ensure workplace safety and regulatory compliance.