US Patent 9000926 Monitoring hand hygiene

A method of monitoring hand washing by individuals comprises monitoring the movements of individuals in an area using one or more sensors, identifying the performance of an act by an individual that requires the hands of the individual to be washed and determining whether the hands of the individual are washed after the performance of the act, wherein the determining includes tracking the motion of that individual using the one or more sensors. Sensors comprising arrays of thermal detectors are preferred, but other types of sensor could be included.