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By Greg Bartlett

A great deal of trust is invested into employees that go out on assignments. New York City inspectors, for example, are assigned certain buildings or structures, which they are to evaluate and report on. The New York City Department of Buildings plans to monitor these inspectors using GPS tracking devices due to a dishonest inspector’s claiming last year to have evaluated a crane in the City, which, in fact, he had not.

This dishonesty received special attentions because the crane fell unexpectedly eleven days later, killing seven individuals. The City wishes to hold all its inspectors to a higher level of accountability by using GPS tracking to monitor their locations and the lengths of their visits at different sites.

GPS tracking has been available to the public since the 1980′s-after a fatal navigational error was made on a passenger plane. The United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS) dates back to the World War II years of the 1940′s and was originally designed for the U.S. Air Force. Today GPS tracking is used by people in many different walks of life: scientists, law enforcement officers, base jumpers, boat racers, and movers, among many others.

Using a GPS tracking program in cell phones, New York City officials in the Department of Buildings will monitor their inspectors in order to have greater assurance that reported inspections have truly taking place. Employers are finding many uses for GPS tracking, including the accountability of their employees. When public safety could depend upon it, accuracy and honesty are very important.