UK national standards body BSI has created a platform – BSI Identify - to share product information simply and easily at all points of the product ‘journey’, from manufacture to on-site application to in-life. Traceability helps to overcome many hazards, providing a single, central source of product information, easily accessed wherever and whenever needed. This helps mitigate many of the reasons for products to be used inappropriately or unsafely.

BSI Identify is a unique digital identification service that uses DOI (digital object identifier) technology to provide manufacturers with a single place to add and maintain their product information in real time.

How does it work?
1. BSI Identify issues manufacturers with a unique, enduring, and traceable identifier called a BSI UPIN (Universal Persistent Identification Number) to every product that’s specified and incorporated in a building structure.

2. It holds these UPINs in an accessible and searchable registry. The technology used ensure that the link cannot be broken.

3. The manufacturer can then mark or tag their products with the UPIN. They can be included on the physical product via labels, within QR codes, NFC or RFID tags, as well as in any digital records of a building.

4. The BSI UPIN then acts as a smart link that can signpost users to a product landing page where they can quickly find all the most up-to-date information on a product. The manufacturer is in control of this open-access page, ensuring that there's one single definitive source of information on the product.

What does this mean for the built environment?
Manufacturers can maintain and access supply references to their product information via a central open access public database provided by BSI. The information available is clear and direct from the authoritative source – the product manufacturer; and it is easily accessed (in the office or halfway up a building or civil structure on-site).

Download the whitepaper and discover how product identifiers help achieve enhanced safety in construction. For further information on BSI Identify, visit https://identify.bsigroup.com/ or send us an email at info.identify@bsigroup.com.