Hand raised for security
In 1996, William Beaumont Hospital, a 254-bed community hospital in Michigan, had a problem: A small number of rogue employees were taking narcotics from a storage area without authorization.
Security Director Chris Hengstebeck looked for ways to tighten control to the affected rooms and cabinets and to generate a log of employees accessing them. The hospital's provider of control access methods suggested a biometric hand geometry system, which identifies individuals through hand measurements.
It worked. The hospital now has about 40 hand readers that control access not only to narcotics but also to the maternity ward and other sensitive areas. Hundreds of employees use the system. To enter one of these restricted areas, employees must punch in their unique ID number and then have a hand scanned.
