BHP to trial own coronavirus contact tracing app on sites
Chile will begin the trial, with the miner potentially rolling out the technology across its global workforce.
Mining giant BHP is confident its own in-house COVID-19 tracing app will avoid some of the privacy concerns that have plagued the government’s COVIDSafe app.
BHP said on Thursday is about to begin trials of its own contact tracing app for contractors and employees, with the company planning to potentially roll out the technology across its global workforce.
The company is adamant that the app is being designed with privacy in mind. Privacy experts argue that the government’s COVIDSafe app collects far more data than is necessary for contact tracing, including all of a user’s phone contacts, and that collected data could be a honey pot for misuse despite draft legislation introduced this week.
The COVIDSafe app has also drawn criticism for the government’s poor track record when it comes to delivering technology projects, including the recent My Health Record fiasco, the 2016 census bungle and the Centrelink website crash. Some of the government’s own members, including Barnaby Joyce, have avoided downloading the app due to privacy fears.
BHP has moved to allay concerns however, declaring that use of its app would be voluntary, and initially confined to its Chilean mines, where there has been an outbreak of coronavirus. But if successful, the tracing app could “complement” tracing apps introduced in Australia and Singapore, the miner said.
BHP did not give technical details of the design of the app, which is understood to have been developed in-house by the company’s technology division. The government is also yet to reveal the source code of its COVIDSafe application.
Unlike the government-backed apps in Australia, the BHP app — which would be deployed under the working title of “C-19 tracer” — would track employee movements on site, not nearness to other devices which also have the app enabled, in an attempt to also identify target areas on mine sites that need sanitisation and cleaning if a worker were to be diagnosed with the virus.
BHP said the app had not been designed as a competitor to government-backed tracing apps, and the company was encouraging its Australian employees to download and use the federal government’s COVIDSafe app.
BHP said on Thursday it would begin voluntary field trials of the app in Chile, where a number of cases have been reported across its mines.
“The field trial will include BHP’s site and office employees in Chile, and it will be done in compliance with local law and under BHP data privacy policies and controls to ensure data accuracy and test technical configuration,” the company said.
“If successful, the app has the potential to be deployed at other sites and offices across BHP. The app is being designed to apply to BHP’s global mining and petroleum operations.”
BHP boss Mike Henry said there had been a “small” increase in the number of cases reported at BHP’s Chilean operations in recent weeks.
“In all cases, our response plans were enacted quickly, with individuals suspected of having the virus safely evacuated for testing, isolation and medical care,” he said.
BHP said the data collected by the app would be accessed only by its health and safety officers in the event an employee or contractor tested positive to COVID-19.
“Authorised HSE personnel would use that person’s data — with their permission — to identify their movements while at work and quickly isolate, clean and sanitise the areas in which they had been working to reduce the risk of surface transmission.
“The data could also be used to expedite existing contact tracing measures, and complement similar measures already in place in countries such as Singapore and Australia.”
Mr Henry said the company’s first priority was to reduce the risk of transmission among the company’s workforce, families and the communities in which the mining giant works.
“We have worked closely with the communities where we operate to establish funding mechanisms and other support for health, wellbeing and resilience, to help protect the most vulnerable from infection, manage any potential outbreak and mitigate the broader impacts of this pandemic,” he said.
“Broadly, we expect to retain reduced numbers at our work locations, split-shifts when possible at our offices, and flexible working from home for some time, to maintain social distancing and protect those at greater risk from COVID-19.
“All decisions related to easing restrictions at sites and in our offices will be based on targeted assessments of local risks, resources, needs and regulations, and with full consideration of the health and mental wellbeing of our people, their families and communities.”
