By Jeffrey Dastin and Krystal Hu
(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc has started to use thermal cameras at its warehouses to speed up screening for feverish workers who could be infected with the coronavirus, employees told Reuters.
The cameras in effect measure how much heat people emit relative to their surroundings. They require less time and contact than forehead thermometers, earlier adopted by Amazon, the workers said.
Cases of the virus have been reported among staff at more than 50 of Amazon’s U.S. warehouses. That has prompted some workers to worry for their safety and walk off the job. Unions and elected officials have called on Amazon to close buildings down.
The use of cameras, previously unreported, shows how America’s second-biggest corporate employer is exploring methods to contain the virus’ spread without shuttering warehouses essential to its operation.
U.S. states have given Amazon the green light to deliver goods with nearly all the country under stay-at-home orders.
In France, Amazon has closed six of its fulfillment centers temporarily – one of the biggest fallouts yet from a dispute with workers over the risks of coronavirus contagion.
Other companies that have explored using the thermal camera technology include Tyson Foods Inc and Intel Corp. The camera systems, which garnered widespread use at airports in Asia after the SARS epidemic in 2003, can cost between $5,000 and $20,000.
This week and last, Amazon set up the hardware for the thermal cameras in at least six warehouses outside Los Angeles and Seattle, where the company is based, according to employees and posts on social media.
Thermal cameras will also replace thermometers at worker entrances to many of Amazon’s Whole Foods stores, according to a recent staff note seen by Reuters and previously reported by Business Insider.
The company performs a second, forehead thermometer check on anyone flagged by the cameras to determine an exact temperature, one of the workers said. An international standard requires the extra check, though one camera system maker said the infrared scan is more accurate than a thermometer.
How widely Amazon will deploy the technology at a time when camera makers are grappling with a surge in demand could not be determined. A Whole Foods representative said cameras ordered weeks ago were starting to arrive for use.
Amazon confirmed that some warehouses have implemented the systems to streamline checks. The company is taking temperatures “to support the health and safety of our employees, who continue to provide a critical service in our communities,” it said in a statement.
Early this month, Amazon said it would offer face masks and start checking hundreds of thousands of people for fevers daily at all its U.S. and European warehouses. Associates walk up to a Plexiglas screen, and an employee on the other side scans their forehead by pointing a thermometer through a small hole.
That process has not been without challenges. A worker performing temperature checks in Houston said his proximity to associates made him uncomfortable, in spite of the screen separating them.
“I didn’t sign up for this,” he said.
A Los Angeles-area employee, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said a line once formed outside her warehouse, and employees could not receive masks until after they had entered the building and had their temperatures taken.
The thermal camera system is faster, two other workers said, with no stopping in front of a screen necessary. The cameras connect to a computer so an employee at a distance can view the results, one said.
Amazon did not disclose whose gadgets it was using. One of the employees, at a warehouse outside Seattle, said the technology came from Infrared Cameras Inc in Texas. Reached by phone, ICI’s chief executive, Gary Strahan, said he would not confirm or deny his company’s working with Amazon.
Other purveyors include UK-based Thermoteknix and U.S.-based FLIR Systems Inc.
(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco and Krystal Hu in New York; Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis; Editing by Vanessa O’Connell and Leslie Adler)
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Leaving her elderly father on a basement floor for two days in a soiled adult diaper won’t mean jail for a Calgary woman.
Justice Indra Maharaj accepted a joint Crown and defence submission on Wednesday for a two-year-less-a-day conditional sentence order for Tara Picard to be followed by 12 months of probation.
Prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence counsel Shaun Leochko proposed a community-based term which will include eight months of 24-hour house arrest followed by a nightly curfew for the second eight months.
Maharaj also agreed with the lawyers to order Picard to commit 300 hours of community service over the length of the three-year sentence.
The Calgary Court of Justice noted that amount of community-service hours was “a lot” to commit to.
But Maharaj said it showed Picard, 52, was truly remorseful for her conduct towards her father, whom Postmedia is not identifying because of the embarrassing nature of the facts of the case.
“What that shows me is Ms. Picard does sincerely recognize what has happened here,” the judge said of her willingness to complete community service.
“What I interpret from that is Ms. Picard’s willingness to give back to the community.”
Picard pleaded guilty in January to charges of assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life to her 77-year-old father.
Court heard caregivers found the elderly Calgary man on the basement floor of his daughter’s southeast home wearing a soiled adult diaper.
At the time, Picard was responsible for her father’s day-to-day care after he was moved to her residence, Spaner, reading from a statement of agreed facts, told court at the time.
“He had a number of medical ailments, including non-insulin dependent diabetes, coronary artery disease, some early onset dementia-like symptoms and chronic alcoholism,” Spaner said.
“(He) had been living independently in a Calgary apartment building. Family members became concerned that he was not caring for himself safely.”
With the help of Alberta Health Services he was moved to a home where Picard resided.
A registered nurse assigned to his care attended the 38 Street S.E. home on Nov. 15, 2021, to drop off food bank supplies for him and was told he was sleeping downstairs.
When the nurse called about an hour and a half later and spoke to the man on the phone he said he was lying on the floor, had fallen and was unable to get up.
When she returned to the home with a co-worker she found the victim lying on his back on the floor.
“(He) said that he had been lying on the floor for two days,” Spaner said.
Leochko said Picard was overwhelmed by the situation she was thrust into.
“It really was more than she could handle,” he said.
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@juanhall: I gotta say, this was the most interesting bike in this post….love that Intense is experimenting with gearboxes…I can see it have a huge effect on DH bikes….thank god there’s still people pushing things. Now, they need to make an Enduro bike with the Pinion MGU!
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The City of Pointe-Claire would like to inform you that the Bob-Birnie arena will be closed for its annual maintenance as of Monday, April 29. The Annex rink will reopen to the public on Monday, May 13, and the arena’s Main rink will be accessible as of Monday, June 3.
Public skating will resume on May 13, and the summer public activities programming will begin on June 3 when both rinks have reopened to the public.
In addition to the annual maintenance of the facility, two renovation projects are also scheduled to start at the same time:
Installation of new sound systems
The City will be replacing its current sound systems in both the Main rink and Annex rink, to offer arena visitors a better overall experience, whether watching from the stands or participating in on-ice activities. This project is expected to be conducted throughout the month of May.
Renovation of locker rooms in the Main Rink
The City will also be renovating the five locker rooms located in the Main rink, to bring up to date the amenities currently available to participants. These renovations are expected to begin in early May and will be completed by mid-August.
For all information about the Bob-Birnie arena, visit the arena’s page on our website.
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