RFID for Safety...

RFID and Safety: The Safe Handling of Materials through RFID tags and RFID Biosensors

RFID technology can be applied in industries, where material safety is paramount. Proper handling of materials must be ensured in regulated industries. Keeping track of materials is a problem for many organizations. An extensive amount of documentation must be kept for tracking purposes and many documents are not readily available when needed.

Missing materials, especially hazardous materials, can cause serious consequences if they are not tracked properly, lost, or are unable to be recalled. The cost of tracking management and the cost of poor quality tracking processes is significant. The implementation of RFID solutions in these material tracking situations can elevate the safety level of the environment and ultimately increase the operational efficiency of the organization. The process characteristics for RFID hazardous material tracking are: Must track an unlimited amount of material types, categorize materials based on its hazard class, keep an audit trail of material movements, and provide analytics for tracking. Analytics capability must provide real-time aggregation and access to the supporting details. The RFID tracking of hazardous materials must be at a container or package level.

RFID technology can play a critical role in the safety of the nation's food supply. Retailers and CPG companies are implementing radio-frequency identification technology in products and store shelves. The RFID tags enable these companies to precisely track the quantity and location of their inventory along with consumer purchasing preferences.

RFID tags can also be combined with sensors at a technology level, that can detect the presence of biological and chemical agents, or signal that a perishable item has expired. This RFID technology can become a critical terrorism-fighting tool. Multifunction RFID tags will track the food supply chain over its life cycle. With biosensors attached to them, RFID tags can instantly alert suppliers and retailers to poisons in their products, detect releases of hazardous materials, and make problem resolution more effective and efficient...

More...