GUEST POST: Using Human Temperature Sensing Technology To Keep Customers and Employees Safe in the COVID-19 Era By: Partners in Regulatory Compliance

Using Human Temperature Sensing Technology To Keep Customers and Employees Safe in the COVID-19 Era
By: Partners in Regulatory Compliance

As stay at home orders are lifted and businesses begin to reopen, companies of all sizes should take precautions to protect their customers and employees. Failure to take appropriate precautions could result in potential legal liability and, on a more broad scale, could contribute to a second wave of the pandemic and the resulting further social and economic harm. On the other hand, taking transparent steps to protect the safety of your employees and customers is likely to engender the type of confidence that will result in a return to a more “normal” and successful business and work environment.  One step towards such transparency may be thermal scanning technology to quickly detect employees or customers with high temperatures – a known symptom of COVID-19.

“Visitor and employee temperature checking technology may help your customers, visitors and employees feel safer in the post-pandemic era.”  - Daniel J. Haurey, Member, Partners in Regulatory Compliance

Thermal scanning technology, also known as temperature checking technology, entails the use of infrared scanning technology to map an individual’s heat image to determine if they have a high or abnormal temperature. Thermal scanning technology is effective because it is practical in the real world. TAURI Temperature-Check Tablets from Aurora Multimedia Corp. are an example of such technology, and Aurora claims that the test takes only one second to deliver results and can tell an individual's temperature from 3 feet away. Advantages of technology such as Aurora’s tablets are: (1) immediate detection of body temperature (which could be a symptom of COVID-19); (2) contactless scanning to allow social distancing in the first instance while results are pending; and (3) flexibility in location of testing.  Countless new comparable technologies are popping up on a daily basis to address this issue.

Of course, you should always make sure that you have confidence in the technology you use.  Further, it is critical that you do not violate your employees’ and customers’ privacy rights and expectations with respect to the results you obtain from devices or technology such as the temperature-check tablets.  You will also need to consider whether you can compel such testing, or must merely make it optional.  If you are uncertain of such rights and expectations, consult your HR department or your trusted attorney.

To learn more about temperature checking tablets and how they can be used to fight the spread of COVID-19, contact Exigent Technologies, a NYC Managed IT Services company.

Daniel J. Haurey is a Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT) and principal at Partners in Regulatory Compliance, a cybersecurity firm in Manhattan.

 This post is a guest column and OLENDERFELDMAN LLP makes no representations, and takes no responsibility, for any products referenced herein and has not independently tested same.