It is taking place at Calgary International Airport, IBM, Fiat-Chrysler, Amazon USA, and now it is making an appearance in a BC school. Queen Margaret’s School (QMS) is the first educational institution in the province, and one of the first in Canada, to incorporate a thermal imaging system into its re-open health and safety plan.
Along with the Ministry of Education’s announcement of a partial re-opening of BC’s schools on June 1, 2020, came an extremely detailed list of health requirements to ensure the ongoing safety of students and teachers. So, when the team at Stallion Systems Inc. approached QMS Head of School, David Robertson, he was intrigued. Born from the lessons of the SARS outbreak in 2003, the Dahua Technology equipment is promoted as being able to provide the additional health security of a contact-free, speedy temperature check for all campus guests. “Anything that could help us ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students, for me, was worthy of very close consideration,” explains Robertson. “I quickly realized that this system is not absolutely fool proof, but it’s a very big step in the right direction of attaining our goal.”
“Throughout this pandemic, with the team here at QMS, I’ve been talking about the need to be nimble and flexible in all of our planning because of the ever changing nature of our situation,” Robertson adds. “This was a perfect opportunity for us to act nimbly, decisively and secure the system in time for our anticipated return.”
For QMS’ return plan, a single entry point will be used for children (along with staff and campus guests) to be scanned by the thermal imaging technology before being permitted to continue to classrooms, chaperoned by teachers and a small number of classmates at a safe distance apart.
For QMS parent, Tyler Vanderputten, the inclusion of a thermal imaging system health check provides the reassurance of science to verify a person’s wellbeing. “As this system will be used to monitor the body temperature of all guests to campus, it won’t make the children feel nervous about being singled out. Also, as there will probably be a second wave of COVID-19 in the future, there will be an ongoing need to monitor children’s health. The thermal imaging system sounds great, and I trust the leadership of the school to make the right decision to keep our kids safe.”
David Robertson agrees that the need for establishing long-term plans to ensure the continuity of education for students played into his decision to purchase the technology. “Most of us are expecting some form of a second wave of COVID-19 in the next six months. This expectancy only made further sense of our investment in this system early so that we would be even better prepared for September and beyond.”
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