Software application and engineering company Red Ledge, an RFID (radio frequency identification) specialist, is to launch a fire appliance asset management system centred on RFID technology, which runs 90 percent faster than traditional barcoding with near 100 percent accuracy and requires no line of sight, claims the company.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, which is now trialling the Red Ledge RFID Fire Appliance Asset Management on an appliance has identified some 180 individual items on each of its 54 appliances in 46 fire stations that it needs to asset-manage, in line with its daily maintenance schedule. The Red Ledge system uses a handheld reader that can simply be swept over RFID-tagged equipment on any appliance to identify whether a given item requires maintenance. Updated information is uploaded to the Red Ledge asset management database, which is then accessed online by fire and rescue service users, who also have the option to use their own database.
“All fire and rescue services have a vital but very time-consuming appliance maintenance schedule,” says Red Ledge Managing Director Andy O’Donnell. “Our new service is designed to improve the speed and accuracy of appliance equipment asset management. It uses RFID technology to save time and resources, increasing accuracy and ultimately, raising safety standards.”
The launch follows Red Ledge’s earlier introduction of a fire incident asset tracking sister system, iSCOPE, which can track RFID-tagged firefighters across any incident. Both systems can also be used in other public safety, security and industrial environments according to Red Ledge.
Headquartered in West Yorkshire, Red Ledge (www.redledge.co.uk) was founded in 1996 and has 150 clients worldwide.
