BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — As businesses prepare to reopen, the health and safety of both employees and customers are a top priority. Businesses, like Mon Ami Cafe & Bakery on Main Street in Buffalo, are busy making changes.
Mon Ami has installed extra hand sanitizer stations, put down floor vinyls and installed screen guards, but are running into some issues.
“The issue that we ran into is we couldn’t really figure out some sort of system that allows us to capture people’s temperature as they walk in,” says Greg Grigorian, co-owner of Mon Ami Cafe & Bakery.
Along with wearing a mask, customers must now have their temperature checked as they walk in the door.
“We know a lot of companies are using the handheld temperature gauze, but that sort of goes against the social distancing guidelines,” Grigorian said.
So he decided to install a thermal camera, which is a security camera that can instantly capture the temperature of any person.
“It detects it by basically taking your temperature and scanning it by using a light system instead of a thermometer,” says Rochelle Finkelshtein, representative at
HealthGuard Technology, the company that sold the thermal camera to Mon Ami.
“We’re trying to create a system where everyone can go back to a lifestyle in which they feel safe even though life as we know it will never be the same,” she said.
Finkelshtein says one of the best parts of the thermal cameras is that they do all the work for you.
“No one is physically touching you and you do not have to waste money on pay roll with paying employees to do the work for you that now a computer is doing.”
HealthGuard Technology offers three different types of thermal cameras. The first detects the temperature of a single person at a time, another captures 25 different temperatures at one time and the third is attached to a metal detector.
“Our prices start at approximately $1,500 and they go up to five or six thousand dollars,” Finkelshtein said.
While this may be a large investment for some businesses, Grigorian says it's worth it.
“A lot of business can use this technology for their advantage.”
