BBC Learnings · Section 7

Covid-19 The office after lockdown

Still working from home, as you can hear. But for many, the return to the office has begun.

Level: C1 · 108 sentences

Transcript

Still working from home, as you can hear.
But for many, the return to the office has begun.
And to make things safe, new thermal cameras
are being installed in some workplaces.
They measure body temperature to screen for coronavirus.
After weeks of working at home,
the return to the office is slowly
getting underway in a number of countries.
But workplaces are having to change in this coronavirus era.
Lots of companies are rushing to install technology
to make offices and workplaces safer.
Sensors that monitor our movements, smartphone apps that alert
us if we get too close to workmates,
and even devices that take our temperature
could all become the new normal.
That's a phrase we hear a lot these days,
meaning a previously unfamiliar situation that has become usual and expected.
In this programme, we'll take a look at how this technology works
and ask if it really is the answer we're looking
for. But first, today's quiz question.
The thermal cameras I mentioned screen for coronavirus
by recording skin temperature in the area of the body
which most closely resembles the internal body temperature,
but... Which area is that? Is it
a the eye, b the ear or c the nose?
I'll say a the eye. OK, Sam.
We'll find out later if you were right.
Now, as employees slowly return to work,
tech companies are busy finding ways
for them to do so safely.
One such company, MicroShare, is managed by Charles Pommel.
He spoke to BBC World Service programme Tech Tent to explain a possible solution.
So the technology that we are offering is using Bluetooth wristbands
or tags that people are wearing within the workplace,
which detects proximity events.
When the proximity event has been recorded,
it's been saved by the company
in case they need to further down the line,
retrace the steps of a certain person
who has been declared as infected
and inform anyone else they may have been in contact with.
One important way to control coronavirus involves contact tracing.
This means that someone who tests positive for the disease
informs everyone else they've been in contact with.
MicroShare's system for this uses Bluetooth – technology that allows computers,
mobile phones and other devices to communicate
with each other without being connected by wires.
Employees wear Bluetooth wristbands which register
when workers come into close proximity –
how near a person is to another person.
Anyone who has been close to a workmate will then
know they have to take action if that person
is found to have coronavirus later down the line,
in the future.
Wearing wristbands, monitoring data on smartphones and being recorded by cameras –
it all feels like quite a big invasion of privacy, doesn't it?
It certainly does. And although some argue that such
measures are necessary in these unprecedented times,
others are worried about the possible consequences.
Here's human rights lawyer Ravi Naik with a warning.
From a human rights perspective, you have to try to ask,
are you trying to use tech for tech's sake?
Is this actually going to facilitate an understanding
of who is safe to go back to work or not?
And if not, what's the necessity of this?
Because there's such a significant interference with basic human rights.
There has to be a high level
of evidential justification to deploy this type of technologies.
And I just don't think it's there.
Ravi questions whether these devices will actually help
identify who can return to work,
or whether the technology is being used for its own sake –
an expression meaning doing something because it is interesting
and enjoyable, not because you need to.
Ravi's work as a lawyer involves finding proof
that something is right or wrong.
If people's human rights are being interfered
with, he thinks there has to be evidential justification.
explanation of the reasons why something
is the right thing to do based on evidence.
Like the evidence from screening body temperature.
Which brings us back to today's quiz question.
Remember I asked you which part of the body
is scanned by thermal cameras to measure body temperature?
And I said A, the eye.
And you were absolutely right. Ah.
There's a small area of the eye close to the tear ducts
which is the most accurate part
of the skin for measuring body temperature.
Ah, well there you go.
We've been discussing how thermal cameras
and other workplace devices being used to prevent coronavirus
are becoming the new normal – a previously
unfamiliar situation that is becoming normalised.
Some of these devices are wristbands with Bluetooth.
Technology allowing computers and smartphones to communicate remotely without wires.
They can identify work colleagues who have been in close proximity –
in other words, near to each other.
That will be helpful if one of them
tests positive for coronavirus further down the line
at some point in the future.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused massive changes in workplaces around the world.
But some critics are concerned that contact tracing technology
is being used for its own sake because it's interesting
and enjoyable to do rather than being absolutely necessary.
And since much of the new tech invades personal privacy,
it should only be introduced with evidential justification – explanation
of why it is the right thing to do based on evidence.