Patent ID: 8842019

Claim:
A system for monitoring utilization of personal protective equipment by workers in a workplace, comprising: a set of first slave Radio Frequency Devices (RFIDs), each of which is paired to a corresponding piece of personal protective equipment to be used in said workplace and is configured to store information that identifies said corresponding piece of personal protective equipment; a set of master RFIDs, each of which is paired to a corresponding worker working in said workplace and is configured to: store information that identifies said corresponding worker, form with corresponding first slave RFI Ds that are paired to personal protective equipment with which said corresponding worker is equipped a corresponding Body Area Network (BAN), through which said corresponding first slave RFIDs communicate exclusively with said master RFIDs, acquire the information stored by the corresponding first slave RFIDs from said corresponding first slave RFIDs through the corresponding Body Area Network (BAN), and store the information acquired from said corresponding first slave RFIDs; a set of monitoring RFID readers, each of which is arranged in a corresponding work area in the workplace and is configured to acquire from the master RFIDs present within the corresponding work area the information stored by said master RFIDs; and a central control and monitoring computer connected to the monitoring RFID readers and configured to acquire from the monitoring RFID readers the information that said monitoring RFID readers acquire from the master RFIDs, wherein, for each piece of personal protective equipment, the corresponding first slave RFID is coupled to a corresponding first sensor that is paired to said piece of personal protective equipment and is configured to supply said corresponding first slave RFID with a signal that indicates whether said piece of personal protective equipment is worn by a worker; and wherein, for each piece of personal protective equipment, the corresponding first slave RFID is configured to detect whether said piece of personal protective equipment is worn by the worker, on the basis of the signal supplied by the corresponding first sensor.