As millions of Americans slowly return to office buildings across the country, there are new concerns about their safety as COVID-19 cases continue to spike across the country. Looking to address those fears head-on, many companies are turning to mandatory temperature checks of employees each day in an effort to keep the deadly virus at bay.
In Hartford, Connecticut, inside the corporate headquarters for LAZ parking, employees are now met with four kiosks as they enter the building. The kiosks are there to help screen for COVID-19 by simply checking employee's temperatures.
“After 9/11, where airport security changed how people traveled, we’re now seeing a new paradigm here in a similar way,” explained Peter Mottur, the founder and CEO of Vizsafe.
Mottur’s company suddenly found themselves shifting their focus in the last few months to respond to the pandemic. In the last week, they rolled out the new kiosks that now sit inside LAZ parking.
Each morning, employees fill out a short, three-question survey on a secure app on their phone. The survey asks employees if they’ve had contact with anyone who has tested positive for the coronavirus. Then, each employee scans their phone onto the kiosk to have their temperature taken.
The whole process typically takes less than 30 seconds.
“We are trying to make this simple and trying to make it as painless as possible. You want to make it easy for people to adopt it and not to be a way to slow them down as they travel through their normal daily lives,” Morrus explained.
If an employee’s temperature is normal, they’re given a green check mark and allowed to enter the building. But if a worker is running a fever, they’re told to head home for the day and check in with human resources.
The hope is to keep anyone who might have the coronavirus from entering the building and spreading the virus to others.
Mottur says the machines can also check a person’s heart rate and oxygen saturation levels.
“Those additional vital signs will give us a broader picture of an individual’s potential risk and whether they might be carrying COVID-19,” Mottur said.
For companies like LAZ parking, the kiosks are offering employees peace of mind, while also helping the company adhere to new guidelines put out by the CDC surrounding the safe operation of office complexes.
“It really gives people something to look at that’s tangible. We want to keep people healthy and this is that preventative measure,” explained Steve Gresh, who serves as the company’s head of innovation and technology.
So far, the kiosks are being operated as a pilot program but demand for the product from other companies is already increasing.