It seems really simple: you point a laser at someone’s forehead and press a button. In a split second, you have a temperature reading. The simplicity of non-contact thermometers has got some people wondering how accurate they really are?
Find out about non-contact thermometer accuracy in this article.
Non-contact thermometers have become an essential component of an infection control plan for many businesses. But lack of knowledge about how to use an infrared thermometer with a laser pointer correctly could mean you’re recording temperatures wrong, making your efforts futile.
Follow this guide, or show it to your staff, for how to use a non-contact forehead thermometer correctly.
To people who haven’t seen them before, infrared thermometers might look like something straight out of an episode of Dr Who. It’s no wonder some people are hesitant about the safety of using an IR thermometer. But infrared thermometers are far more hygienic than oral, axillary and rectal thermometers, and tend to be more accurate too, provided you use a CE Certified unit.
We’ll go through how infrared thermometers work in this article.
The infrared thermometer has all but replaced the probe and strip thermometers as a significantly more hygienic, accurate, and adaptable alternative. Sometimes called a laser thermometer or contactless thermometer, an infrared (IR) thermometer scans sections of an object with a laser to determine its ambient temperature.
The fact that infrared thermometers do not require any physical contact makes them handy for busy doctors and nurses. There is no need to sterilise between uses or use disposable probe covers. The usability of contactless thermometers is also helpful when trying to take temperature readings in hard to reach areas. So, many engineers and catering professionals use laser thermometers to measure the temperature of equipment and produce.
So, what is an infrared thermometer used for in different industries? In this article, we’ll cover the most common uses for infrared thermometers.
Following the surge in contactless thermometer use, some people have taken to social media to state their belief that infrared thermometers can be harmful to the people they are pointed at. One video post on Facebook depicts a conversation between a mother and dental receptionist where the mother raises concerns about what the laser thermometer will do to her children, in particular, the pineal glands in their brains.
In fact, there’s nothing dangerous about using an infrared (IR) thermometer at all, as debunked by Full Fact. We’ll explain why infrared thermometers aren’t dangerous in this article.
Since COVID-19 there has been an increase in unreliable thermometers that do not comply with the required standards of safety and performance. In this blog, we discuss what to look out for and how our thermometers are reliable and accurate.