News reports say that a Singapore Internet of Things (IoT) and smart wearables firm have concluded successful trials of its Digital Monitoring Solution with its medical partners under the Singapore Shipping Tripartite Alliance Resilience (SG-STAR) Fund Call-for-Trials Proposals (CFP). The trial featured seafarers as participants and spanned three months.
To improve the process for a safe and secure crew change, the tech firm created a digital solution to provide the maritime industry with greater assurance in the health of the seafarers, ensure seafarers’ adherence to safety guidelines and enable a transparent quarantine process and accurate documentation. The initiative resolves a critical blind spot for safe and secure crew change for the industry.
The Digital Monitoring Solution is an affordable and fully integrated smart health platform comprising a tamper-proof smart wearable, mobile app, geofence locator, remote monitoring dashboard and automatic alerts. The solution provides a holistic 360-degree view for round-the-clock monitoring and detailed record logs of a seafarer’s well-being, combining key vitals tracking (temperature, heart rate, SPO2, activity level and sleep patterns), highly accurate indoor geofencing with automated geofence quarantine monitoring and health symptoms monitoring. It analyses and triangulates information collected and can detect abnormalities and assess risks.
During the process, stakeholders are notified of any abnormalities and quarantine breaches in real-time via SMS for quick intervention. Further screening will then be conducted via an in-app Screening Questionnaire for vitals and health symptoms breaches. The Digital Monitoring Solution is also a secure single source for regulatory compliance records required for forwarding travel and a one-stop-shop providing access to the seafarer’s PCR test results, fit-to-travel certificate, temperature log, location records and health and travel history. It is compliant with data privacy policy and access is limited to authorised users only.
The ongoing global health crisis and its impact on the maritime industry have highlighted the importance of ensuring the safe movement of seafarers and their safety and welfare as well as continuing the essential flow of global trade. The features of the Digital Monitoring solution will aid in the safe resumption of work and travel, enable effective remote monitoring of seafarers’ health and wellness, indoor geofence compliance, ensure seafarers’ adherence to quarantine guidelines in their home country and provide a transparent quarantine process for the maritime industry. In turn, this ensures safe travel and safe crew change.
Medical institutions said that they are excited to have partnered with the tech firm in the trial and to continue their partnership in the commercial deployment of the Digital Solution for a safe crew change. The solution will enable the sector to continue to conduct 24/7 monitoring of seafarers while requiring less manpower, freeing up valuable resources that can be utilised elsewhere. Most importantly, the commercial deployment of this solution will ensure safe crew change for seafarers across Southeast Asia and beyond, marking a key step forward for the maritime industry.
The Digital Solution is now available for worldwide commercial adoption by seafarer companies and agencies as the shipping industry recovers from the impact of the pandemic.
Also, The Singapore Ministry of Health (MoH) has also deployed wearable devices and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to remotely monitor COVID-19 patients. The technology was developed by a private company in digital therapeutics that focuses on personalised predictive care. The remote monitoring system has been deployed to the MoH community care facilities, where COVID-19 patients who no longer require acute care are cared for, as well as newly confirmed cases that do not require hospital care. Furthermore, individuals awaiting swab results at swab isolation facilities are monitored in real-time with the technology.
