Differences in Temperature & Facial Recognition Kiosks: Things you need to know before making a decision

Differences in Temperature & Facial Recognition Kiosks: Things you need to know before making a decision

So, you’re looking for temperature and mask detection solutions, like with everything they are not all created equal. In this blog, I will layout the decisions that you need to make, how they work as well as differences and lastly, I will cover the core things to consider as you evaluate options.

I am going to assume everyone knows how important this first step of basic temp detection is in controlling the spread of infection, if not feel free to check out my blog at https://www.omnihlth.com/blog. First let’s start with basics, how you want to administer this test, and connecting it to the overall process. Many organizations have chosen to use human interaction for this test, as you can imagine anyone at the front of a large store, building etc., that is contacting 10 to thousands of people increase their risk of infection by 10x. Do you want to be this person? I don’t think so, yet companies are putting themselves in a tough position by having human interaction for access control.

Top reasons to use an automated health check solution:

1. First is to protect the employee that is having to engage with people and expose themselves to the virus, which they can then spread to others in the office etc.
2. To ensure people have gone through the process, by having actual data and if needed assigned this data to employee lists or attendees.
3. Ensure a clear and manageable process that can be used consistently and be as safe as possible for security and anyone working to protect people as they enter a public space.

Based on the overview above, it’s pretty compelling as to why to look at automated temperature sensing solutions, now how to select the correct one and then finally how to implement.

First let me do what I can to provide some information. Before writing this blog, we tested 3 of the top temp kiosk products from China. These are the majority of products you will see and range in price from $1500 to around $4500 each. Although all seemed to have a consistent temperature scan, what we realized is that over time it would just throw the same results.

Then we checked how the temperature scan and facial recognition worked. Just FYI you need both temp and facial to ensure you have a person in front of you to scan. When shown a picture of a person all 3 of them provided a temperature. What this mean is that they are not using a proper algorithm and they do not have the facial recognition technology at the level to ensure accurate results.  This is a problem and this why you should really look at who is building these units and ensure there is a mechanism for quality, questions, support etc.

How these solutions work and what separates them:

• Quality of temperature sensor, this includes different degrees of your basic temperature gun and then FDA approved products. 99% of these solutions use the same sensor or tech that temp gun uses, which is fine if coupled with an algorithm for consistency
• Quality of algorithm and facial recognition solution to ensure its accuracy
• Some sort of management back end to customize your health program
• Ability to show real data as people go through the scan
• Ability to connect to the actual database or other verification systems

Consider the following as even as Covid19 starts to get under control there will be and continue to be infectious disease that we can start to manage better as a society.  Here are things you want to look for in a perspective of the temp & facial recognition solution:

• Hardware is upgradable and has features for scanning QR codes, ID’s, added cameras etc.
• Software backend allows you to customize messaging and ensure it fits inside your policies
• Reporting allowing you to have an overall list of pass/ fail, and of course being able to connect to an actual person in situations of hotels, meeting areas or corporate access
• Ability to upgrade software to allow new types of testing, or provide additional surveys, questions or even information to guide your visitors
• Support and management ensuring hardware and software is remotely monitored and supported for the life of the product
• Networking capability and ability to connect to existing secure networks with the ability to manage these devices internally

A quick overview of implementation of these solutions: I will recommend you talk to someone about this process and have them help you with laying out a manageable, trainable plan.

Implementation things to consider:

1. If someone fails how do you deal with this person?
2. Ensure alerts and data are sent through the process for documentation and control.
3. You will need to build an access and health/safety plan. There are some great examples with Hilton and large organizations you can start with.
4. Find a partner that can provide the technology and help you implement.

No matter which direction you go, we all as employers, have to pick up our game, rethink the new normal and learn how to protect our greatest assets – our people.   At OmniHLTH, we are focused on the ongoing use of technology to help protect, automate, and drive more convenience for people, customers, guests and patients.  This is why we built OmniTemp, because we understood this is more then just a ‘one-time lets do what we have to’, this is about a change in philosophy and a new way of thinking. Please reach out if we can answer any questions, or if you would like to talk about implementing our OmniHLTH Kiosks or Telehealth solutions. Email us @ info@omnihlth.com for more information.