Active RFID Solution: Occidental Petroleum Utilizes Dual-Active RFID For Safety

AXCESS International Inc. (OTC: AXSI), a leading provider of Dual-Active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) solutions today announced the use of its Active Tag Personnel Tracking System for contractors and employees at Occidental Petroleum Corporation’s (NYSE: OXY) largest operation in California. The long range access control and safety system is used to provide automatic hands-free identification and time and attendance for 2,700 personnel at the 75 square mile facility. The system also enables safety and risk managers to determine where personnel are in the event of an emergency, such as an earthquake, terrorist threat or explosion.

The Elk Hills Reserve is the seventh largest oil field in the continental United States, with cumulative production exceeding 1 billion barrels of oil and 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The new personnel tracking system has been operating for over a year and all employees, contractors and visitors at the oil field wear AXCESS Dual-Active RFID-enabled badges.

“The AXCESS personnel tracking system allows us to account for every employee in the case of an emergency,” said Armando Gonzalez, Health, Safety and Risk Management Lead at Oxy Elk Hills Reserve. “Occidental Petroleum upholds high standards for protecting the safety and health of employees, contractors and neighboring communities.”

Previously, the refinery used picture ID cards presented to guards and logs to monitor who entered or left the facility. The company replaced those badges because they couldn’t accurate represent how many people were in the facility. The new system tracks employees and contractors entering and exiting the facility with time and attendance to assist with contractor management. Oxy Elk Hills will use the system to better fulfill OSHA’s Safety Management (PSM) standard for tracking hours for mandatory injury rate calculations. The system records the time and attendance to compile hours on site and get a truer reflection of safety statistics.

Oxy Elk Hills is using Acrasoft software together with the AXCESS ActiveTag RFID tags and reader infrastructure in the Personnel Tracking and Safety System. AXCESS Dual-Active RFID personnel badges transmit a unique ID number and location zone when they reach a facility gate. The badge conforms to the ISO 7810 standard size for ID cards and is powered by batteries expected to last minimum of three years Security gates are equipped with palm- sized, network-based receivers operating at UHF frequency band to read from 35 feet up to 300 feet away depending upon the antenna used. Badges are automatically activated as they move through a doorway or gate or into a parking/staging area. The AXCESS “hands free” ActiveTag system proved most reliable and accurate in automatically detecting and identifying personnel entering or leaving facilities in a independent test conducted by the U.S. Defense Department’s research facility.

“With dual-active RFID cards, personnel no longer have to manually present their card for access as it’s done automatically”, said Allan Griebenow, President and CEO of AXCESS International Inc. “Safety is improved in emergency evacuation situations. Contractors and visitors are more easily controlled and accounted for. These are the personnel badges for the 21st century”.