A universal access control system is being introduced to North America that radically improves safety and risk management in the U.S. logistics and transportation industry.
AccessPoint is a product from Whiting Passport that uses smart card technology to physically prevent fixed and mobile machinery and security storage from being used by unauthorized people involved in ports, terminals, warehouses, and rail and road transport, as well as air and express delivery services.
AccessPoint significantly reduces the risks of equipment misuse, which can include death and injury, compromising of the safety of entire plant operations and also causing damage and disruption that drives up operating costs.
AccessPoint not only controls who can operate high-value, high-risk equipment, but also records when they accessed it and for how long. The technology enables users to employ one system for their entire operation. The system is administered through a secure, easy-to-use web-based application, “Critically, staying completely off your company’s network!,” says Whiting Passport Product Manager Joel Phelps.
AccessPoint for Fixed Equipment can be fitted to any electrically powered device, extending from fixed machinery such as cranes, lifting and positioning machinery vital to production, through to mobile machinery including vehicles used by truck drivers, couriers and postal deliveries, bus and coach drivers, mail sorters, fork lift drivers, warehouse workers, stores persons and dispatch clerks. AccessPoint for Vehicles can be fitted to any vehicle with an on-off button.
“Each AccessPoint system is customized to each specific user,” Phelps says. “Each user has the power to store start and stop times, to track certification and expiration statuses and to set customized re-certification intervals on a per user basis, as they see fit. This is a very important risk management capability for the North American transport and logistics sector, which accounts for well over $1.3 trillion in spending in the United States alone.”
Safety and standards compliance is particularly important in such an extensive industry, which extends from the farm gate and factory floor to the consumer’s door.
“Users can remain in compliance with OSHA and other regulatory standards because AccessPoint gives them the ability to continuously view how their equipment is being used. Users can quickly address and correct misuse patterns. AccessPoint creates a shared culture of responsibility that ensures the correct use of high-risk, high-value plant equipment,” Phelps says.
System users can view run hours of all AccessPoint devices within range from any Bluetooth device, or they can log into their own personal dashboard, or Viewport, from their PC to view usage statistics.
Whiting Passport dealers provide real-time support to assist with installation and setup and to answer customer questions. A full-range of kits are available, depending on the type of equipment.
For more information, visit whitingpassport.com.