The joint venture has ordered 1,500 helmet-mounted devices  to issue to site workers across its route section, which runs from the Chiltern Hills northern edge to near Kenilworth in Warwickshire.

The technology will first be deployed at Boddington in Warwickshire, before being rolled out across the entire central area.

The PLINX devices use cutting-edge wireless technology to accurately monitor how close workers are to each other and beep, vibrate and flash, notifying the users to keep their distance.

Health and Safety managers on the project say that data from the devices will also provide valuable insights to manage population density, monitor pinch points on sites and collate data to enable contact tracing.

PLINX founder, Tommy Williams, said that the firm repsonded to HS2’s Covid Innovation Challenge and set about refining its technology to help workers to continue working safely on site by helping them to maintain social distancing rules.

Beyond the main Covid-19 the technology will allow EKFB to maintain health and safety on sites monitoring proximity to hazards such as exclusion zones and machines.

It can also allow users to SOS alert in emergency situations or activate timeout sessions.

Glenn Christiansen, EKFB’s safety, health, wellbeing and compliance director, said: ‘The safety, health and wellbeing of our people is our highest priority, so we are excited to introduce a technology that both supports and improves this.

During the current situation with Coronavirus, where we are striving to make our workplaces safe for those that continue to come to work, it is especially important to ensure that distancing rules on site are understood, observed, and monitored.