Under OSHA guidelines and the tacit approval of the EEOC, when bringing employees back to work, employers may monitor employee temperatures.  To do so, employers are considering options ranging from standard thermometer guns to more sophisticated social-distancing and heat-detection cameras, some of which are paired with facial-recognition software that security officials can use to track and identify employees who may show symptoms of COVID-19.

Thermal cameras or scanners could become the new norm, not just at work, but at schools, airports, and the other mass gathering locations and businesses. These systems are generally non-invasive with advanced infrared technology providing quick measurements. The federal Food and Drug Administration is not looking to regulate its use but actually encourages it. New FDA guidelines say such “telethermographic systems” should be used alongside secondary screening methods, like clinical-grade thermometers.

Emitted Energy, located in Sterling Heights, MI, has been producing thermal imaging scanners since 2013 for manufacturing purposes.  Now being used for employee thermal screening by measuring the temperature of the eye’s inner canthus (tear duct), they offer an efficient way to quickly screen employees before they start their shift. “The scanners offer an efficient way to quickly screen employees for those with temperatures outside the average range of other employees,” said Roy Ray, Vice President, Emitted Energy.  “They are not meant to be diagnostic in any way, they are a screening tool.  If an employee’s temperature falls outside of that site’s average, they will be sent for further, diagnostic testing with a clinical-grade thermometer.  It’s meant to find outliers from large masses of people and is simply a preventative measure.”  For more information on their thermal imaging system, click here.

For employers, it’s about getting employees to work faster and safer.  Some employers are using no-contact thermometer guns, which measure the heat of a person’s forehead, to send home workers with a temperature over 100 degrees. It might be quicker but is less precise than medical-grade thermometers.  Skin temperatures can vary widely and can be affected by things like exercise and outside temperature.

Tyson Foods installed walk-through temperature scanners at its meat-processing plants.  Goldman Sachs is considering this approach also.  Workers and visitors entering the Wynn Resorts hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip will be monitored by thermal cameras.  Other companies using thermal scanners include Amazon, GM, Ford, and Western Digital.

It’s important to remember that fevers can be caused by many things from flu to exhaustion to overeating to stress.  “Most people with a fever don’t have coronavirus, and slapping the coronavirus-positive label on people just because they have a temperature is going to cause huge problems,” said Lewis Maltby, the president of the National Workrights Institute, an employee advocacy group. “Being sent home because you accidentally got dinged for coronavirus is like being stamped with the scarlet letter. No one will go anywhere near them.”

“The logistics of when and for whom you do the temperature check do not seem to be well thought out,” said Jai Marathe, an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center. “For example, how frequently do you check? What about the employees who take medications like Tylenol for headaches or arthritis, in whom a fever may be suppressed?”

Thermal screening can miss people who are infected. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which analyzed 5,700 people seriously ill with COVID-19 in the New York City area, found that two-thirds did not have a fever. “While fever is one of the more common manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection, it is not universal,” said Stephen P. Juraschek, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Unfortunately, we are unable to predict whether or not someone will be symptomatic and what their symptoms will be.”

False positives can be embarrassing for the person identified.  Scanners installed in grocery stores like City Farmers Market in Atlanta tells customers that anyone registering over 100.4 degrees on a thermal camera “will be discreetly informed” by a staff member and given “an alternative for [their] shopping.” 

Employers should follow best practices when performing thermal screening. Walmart sends workers home after a temperature check.  These employees won’t be able to return until they can prove they’ve been fever-free for at least three days.  Best practice would route that employee to a secondary, more thorough screening area, and not send them directly home. “Employers should have two routes after the initial thermal imaging is performed.  Route 1 is the employee proceeds to work.  Route 2 takes them to a holding area for further screening,” stated Roy Ray, Vice President, Emitted Energy.

If these systems are employed, it is advised to work with legal counsel to identify various scenarios and develop policies that allow for privacy, provide the ability to contest findings, and outline a process to document when  employees are cleared to return to work.  Moreover, if any time off is required, the policies must provide for how it would be paid for as well as any coordination with leave policies such as FMLA, if applicable.  Employees should not be penalized for attendance in these situations.

Additional ASE Resources
Virtual Class: COVID-19 Response Team Workshop: Leading Your Back-to-Work Efforts - This live virtual course presents a process that your organization can model in order to reopen or ramp up operations to the new normal. Participants in the class will work through and discuss application of the checklist, “Back-to-Work Checklist: A guide for returning to work in the era of COVID-19.  May 11, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Learn more or register here.

HR Hotline – For any return to work or other HR related questions, ASE members can contact the HR Hotline at 248-223-8012.

Source: Washington Post 4/28/20, HuffPost 4/27/20; Emitted Energy