At Target Field, home to the Minnesota Twins major league baseball team, it’s the 100-person facilities and security team behind the team that keeps stadium operations running smoothly. Pandemic or not, Target Field keeps busy year-round. The stadium hosts over 250 special events and concerts each year, in addition to welcoming 2.5 million fans to baseball games. In 2021, the events are smaller and guests wear masks, but Jeff Beahen, Senior Director of Physical Security, and his team are hard at work ensuring that everyone who enters has a safe experience.

Speeding up and streamlining health checks

Ensuring that everyone who enters Target Field stays healthy and safe takes an incredible amount of work. To comply with the SAFETY Act, a requirement that all MLB teams meet by 2022, the Twins organization must keep a log of all employees, contractors, and guests of special events who enter and ensure they meet specific criteria. Wisconsin health authorities also recommend that workplaces screen employees for COVID-19 before entering and notify anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19 in the workplace.

Earlier in the pandemic, the process of logging and screening each person who walked in was a manual process that sometimes took up to 5 minutes per person to complete. Security personnel for the Twins would ask each person a series of questions, type their responses into a form, and then wait to find out if they’d met the Twins criteria. Not only did this require extra security staff to manage, but it also created long lines to enter the facilities—sometimes up to a 45-minute wait.

The Twins saw room for improvement in how they managed incoming deliveries as well. On a busy week, over 70 shipments arrive at the loading dock each day. To ensure deliveries reached the right departments, employees had to email the loading dock staff and let them know what was being delivered when, and who was expecting it. Each time a delivery arrived, the loading dock staff would call to confirm that the delivery was expected and then also call the recipient to let them know to pick it up.

“That whole process is done within Envoy now—and the notifications are automated to save us time.”

Planning ahead with pre-registration and accurate record-keeping

The Twins organization first rolled out Envoy Visitors in 2019 and quickly saw wait times at entrances dwindle. Now the Twins team uses Envoy to invite contractors, like caterers and event staff, and event guests who register and complete a health check before they arrive at the park. Envoy automatically invites contractors each day to free up Beahen’s time and create a reliable process for staff. Because every visit is logged, and guests provide their information for entry, Envoy gives Beahen peace of mind that he’ll be ready for the SAFETY audit when it comes.

When the pandemic hit, the Twins quickly rolled out Envoy Protect and health checks for their on-site staff. “We added the Envoy Protect features in mere minutes,” says Beahen. “All we had to do was identify our required health screening questions, and then to make certain that for contact tracing purposes, our HR staff was automatically notified.” Beahen also appreciates that Envoy discards health check responses to protect employees’ privacy and reduce the Twins’ liability.

Protect provided critical support when the organization experienced a COVID-19 outbreak in the fall of 2020. As soon as an employee reported they were sick, Beahen used Envoy to quickly pull the contact info of anyone who had been on-site the same day as the person who had COVID-19.

“It’s a huge relief to know that everyone who’s coming into the stadium has certified they’re symptom-free. And, if there is an outbreak, we can act fast.”

Unclaimed deliveries at the loading dock are also a thing of the past. Now when a delivery person drops off a package, they use Envoy to add information about the drop-off, which instantly notifies the right person to fetch it.

Giving guests and employees the confidence to return to Target Field

As the Twins welcome fans back to Target Field, Beahen and his team feel relieved to have a streamlined process that protects employees and guests. And, as larger events resume and more deliveries land at their loading dock, Beanhen is confident that Envoy’s processes will scale with the organization.