Benton County installs fever-detection kiosks to prevent coronavirus spread

All Benton County employees arriving at work are now having their body temperature scanned by a computer kiosk.

The artificial intelligence technology can identify a face, even while wearing a mask, and manage a list of employees that have entered the building.

But Benton County is starting with just the basics.

When a person walks up to device, a two-second temporal scan determines if their temperature is normal or elevated at 100.4 degrees or higher.

A green light means go to work.

But if the device illuminates with a red light, the employee is expected to turn around, go home and notify their supervisor that they need to take a sick day.

Since the county is eschewing the facial recognition and other advanced features for now, employees with an abnormal temperature are on the honor system to do what is right, not only for their own health and safety, but that of their co-workers and the public.

An email is sent to Benton County Risk Manager Adam Morasch identifying the specific kiosk and time of a high reading.

But since he does not receive an employee’s name, he must review security camera footage at the county facilities to zero in on who got the red light and confirm that they left work for the day. The county has about 650 employees.

The kiosks, sold by Pacific Office Automation, are the latest coronavirus safety measure implemented by Benton County as it tries to advance out of Phase 1.5 by reducing the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Franklin County officials have received information on the kiosks and what they’re capable of doing, but for now are sticking with contactless, digital thermometers depending on the need in each county department, said Administrator Keith Johnson.

“It kind of depends on how things progress over the next few days and weeks,” said Johnson. “If we see that numbers start to come down, we may decide that we don’t need to go with full scanners. But if numbers escalate, we may look at them.”

20 kiosks

The Benton County commissioners recently approved spending $51,802 to buy 20 of the temperature kiosks.

Installed in the past week, the kiosks are only being used at employee entrances for county buildings and shops in Prosser, Kennewick and Richland.

“We were using handheld, touchless infrared thermometers and that was challenging because you’ve got employees’ time — different employees report at different times in separate offices,” Morasch told the Tri-City Herald.

“Seeing that this isn’t going to stop anytime soon — COVID-19 and the environment that we’re in right now — we wanted to be proactive and find an easier solution that will allow us to be hands-free in getting those temperatures taken to protect the employees and public.”

Letters were sent to elected officials, department heads, unions and employees letting them know what to expect with the kiosks. They are only being asked to take their temperature once a day when they first arrive at work.

The county paid for the emergency purchase with money it received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Pacific Office Automation started carrying the temperature scanners in early May in response to growing demand during the pandemic.

Scott Brenton, director of sales at the company’s Beaverton headquarters, said the technology has been in use for other global health issues like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Ebola virus disease and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

In this pandemic, it not only “eliminates the human person” needing to stand at the door and come into close physical contact while taking someone’s temperature, it also gives employees and customers some assurance in the county offices.

Forehead scan

Workers are instructed to stand about 18-24 inches away from the kiosk’s tablet-like device while it scans their forehead. If they get a red light, meaning they have an elevated temperature, the person is encouraged to rest for a few minutes and try again if they really don’t believe they are sick.

The device reportedly has an accuracy of “half a degree Celsius,” said Brenton, who has tested the temporal scan at least 70 times against an under-the-tongue thermometer.

Pacific Office Automation has even implemented the kiosk at all of its offices, including the Kennewick location at 7913 W. Grandridge Blvd.

“It’s not about keeping customers out or keeping employees out, it’s about having everybody come back in a safer environment,” he said. “Customers have been really understanding, and I think that everybody gets that we’re all in it. We’re all trying to figure this out.”

But while the technology plays an important part in preventing the spread of the virus, Brenton added, people need to continue to wash their hands, wear a mask and wipe down their desk and other surfaces.

Pacific Office has installed the kiosks in recent months at food processing plants and manufacturing facilities, in addition to Snoqualmie Casino, college settings like Arizona State University and Hawaii Pacific University and the Phoenix Suns stadium in Arizona.

Brenton said it may be easy for people to deny having symptoms so they can go out, but it is not easy to lie when their temperature has to be checked by the kiosk before entry.

Businesses using the technology can activate extra features, like mask detection and reminders to people not wearing one, and printed stickers to be worn by those who “pass” the temperature scan.

The kiosk also offers facial recognition, which can be matched to employees’ ID badge pictures and help identify those with an elevated temperature reading.

Benton County is not using those features for now or collecting any data or biometrics on its employees as they go through the kiosk.

The company is frequently working on new software releases for the technology, so even in two years the kiosks will continue to be a viable purchase for Benton County and other buyers.

“When Pacific Office selected this device, we wanted to provide our customers with a device that’s able to have updates and be future-proof, to be used as time goes on,” said Rush Hoag, an account manager based in the Tri-Cities.

This story was originally published August 10, 2020 at 2:23 PM.