This month sees the publication of a new Publicly Available Specification (PAS) that provides a method of assessing the performance of a forensic code.
PAS 820:2012 – ‘Laboratory-identifiable forensic codes – classification of performance when exposed to artificial weathering’ – is a document published by the British Standards Institution (BSI) having been commissioned and sponsored by British Security Industry Association (BSIA) member company Smartwater Technology.
To help those working in the industry understand the main points of the PAS, the BSIA has now produced a short guide outlining its key points.
The basic purpose of the BSIA document is to overcome the difficulties that purchasers could encounter with assessing the length of time a forensic code will continue to be identifiable, and should help those making purchasing decisions to assess this aspect of a product.
Forensic marking products: key points to note
Forensic marking products are used to link items to an owner or place, or a suspect to stolen goods or the scene of a crime. They can also be deployed to protect cables, lead roofing, personal property (such as computers and mobile phones), banknotes and safety-critical parts.
A large proportion of those products in the UK that use forensic codes are manufactured or distributed by BSIA members.
Paul Phillips, technical officer at the BSIA and author of the short guide, explained: “Many people find that standards – and the style of language they’re written in – can be quite confusing, so this short introductory document has been designed to help purchasers avoid such confusion and make an informed decision on their use of PAS 820.”
PAS 820 is available to purchase from the BSI’s online shop. It is not available from the BSIA.
The BSIA’s short guide to PAS 820 may be downloaded direct from the BSIA’s website
