Dutch storage company Vopak plans to monitor employees through personnel sensors next year. Staff and visitors will receive an electronic pass for this purpose, which will allow their movements within the company to be tracked. Het Financieele Dagblad published this yesterday.
Vopak is a global tank terminal operator specializing in the storage and handling of liquid and gaseous chemical and oil products.
Staff sensors allow Vopak to see exactly where staff members are. It also shows whether employees are lying down or standing. The company states that this will increase safety. The first test will take place in January next year. At a later stage, sound could also be recorded via the passes.
According to the storage company's CIO, the new system complies with European privacy regulations. Only one system administrator would be able to see which employee belongs to a pass. When someone leaves the premises, the information is deleted. In order to be able to reconstruct a disaster, Vopak will make and keep an anonymous backup. The central works council says it has reservations about this new system. Privacy lawyers have also been critical of it.
This news item can also be found in the Privacy in the Workplace file
