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I THE BA1 I ALION Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Hospital dismisses company
that maintained faulty elevator
By Pam Easton
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Christus St.
Joseph Hospital said Monday it
has dismissed the maintenance
company responsible for servicing
its elevators when a doctor
became trapped between an eleva
tor’s doors and a portion of his
head was severed.
“The official investigation is
still open,” Jeff Webster, the hos
pital’s chief executive officer,
said. “However, we wanted to
communicate the actions the hos
pital has taken as a result of our
own independent investigation.”
Dr. Hitoshi Nikaidoh. 35, a
surgical resident at the hospital,
died Aug. 16 as he entered an
elevator on the second floor.
According to police reports, the
elevator’s doors suddenly closed
as he entered, pinning his shoul
ders. Nikaidoh’s head was sev
ered just above his lower jaw
when the elevator began rising.
The elevator has been shut
down since Nikaidoh’s death,
the hospital said Monday and
new maintenance and inspec
tions companies have been
brought in to make sure the hos
pital’s other 44 elevators are
running normally.
Webster said the hospital is
awaiting a final report from the
U.S. Department of Labor’s
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration and from the
Texas board that licenses and
regulates elevators.
Meanwhile, Nikaidoh’s fami
ly has sued the company that
manufactured the elevator and
Illinois-based Kone, Inc., which
was responsible for elevator
maintenance at the hospital.
“We’re still waiting for the
report from the state,” the family’s
attorney, Howard Nations said.
“Our position always has been
that the only way four safety sys
tems can fail simultaneously is
there has to be a wiring problem.”
A spokesman for Kone, Inc.
wasn’t immediately available
for comment Monday.
Mike Lubben, a vice presi
dent with the company, previ
ously said Kone had been serv
icing the hospital’s elevators
since 1999. The Otis elevator in
question was installed in 1967.
Lubben said that his compa
ny was working with investiga
tors to determine what caused
the “tragic accident.”
Smart tags moving rapidly
By Justin Pope
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Backers of new radio-tagged product codes, a
kind of souped-up bar code, are heralding this as
the week the technology finally moves off the
drawing board and into the real world.
Unlike traditional bar codes, Radio Frequency
Identification tags do not need to pass under a
laser reader. They are already commonly used by
drivers with “speed passes” at toll booths, by U.S.
military quartermasters and by ranchers tracking
livestock from “farm to fork.”
New wireless way to track inventory
As some companies work to implement the new wireless tracking
technology called Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), concerns
linger about competing standards, integration costs and consumer
privacy. In the system, products are tagged with computer chips
that transmit information via radio waves.
Retail applications for RFID
Locates items in stockrooms
and identifies where they
need to go in the store
Monitors expiration
dates and warns
when items need to
be removed
Tracks inventory
on the shelves
and informs clerk
when an item is
, selling out
|
Alerts staff when
someone is
-1
shoplifting
AP
* But the MIT lab developing the technology,
and sponsors such as Wal-Mart, Gillette and
Procter & Gamble, are calling a symposium this
week in Chicago the beginning of the next step:
embedding the chips in shipping crates to help big
companies save billions by tracking their products
from factory to warehouse to storeroom.
For now, the focus is on helping businesses make
sure there is enough product to fill the shelves but not
so much as to clog up supply lines or waste away in
warehouses. Using RFID to track individual products
all the way to the checkout line is further down the
road, when costs come down.
“The symposium is intended to be a bit like a
starting pistol for this new technology,” said Kevin
Ashton, executive director of MIT’s AutoID
Center. “It’s where we cross the line from
research to reality.”
For some, however, RFID is moving a little
too quickly.
The technology got a push this summer when
Wal-Mart told its top 100 suppliers to deliver
RFID-tagged products by Jan. 1, 2005. With near
ly $700 million in sales per day in 2002, Wal-Mart
had the clout to give orders, and the announce
ment sent suppliers scrambling to respond.
Some of those suppliers, like Procter &
Gamble, were already enthusiastically pursuing
RFID on their own. A new research report sug
gests others are feeling rushed to implement it.
They are also worried that if a common set of
RFID standards fails to emerge, they will have to
build a new system for every customer. And if
standards do emerge, they worry they will be
forced to share information with competitors.
“With every supplier, there are two camps,”
said Kara Romanow, an analyst with AMR
Research, whose report estimated companies
would spend $2 billion trying to meet the Wal-
Mart deadline. “There’s the camp that believes the
end vision and has really bought into the hype.
Then there are the people that are charged with
implementing it that are scared.”
Some privacy advocates, who contend the tech
nology will soon be used to track people and their
personal information, are also worried that RFID
is moving too fast.
Katherine Albrecht of the privacy group
Caspian said consumer advocates should have
been invited to the Chicago symposium to discuss
their concerns.
Ashton, of the AutoID center, said that privacy
advocates should be part of the debate and that as
the technology develops, safeguards will be adopt
ed: Any customers who end up with RFID tech
nology in their hands will be notified, given the
option of turning it off, and given control over how
any information is used.
The 1,000 people attending the Electronic
Product Code symposium are likely to have ques
tions about privacy, as well as standards and the
rush by the “Wal-Mart 100” to comply with the
company’s mandate.
AUDIT SUBMISSION: Sept. 15-Oct.22, 2003 DELIVERY DATE: December 11. 2003
ORDER SESSIONS: 1 - Sept. 29 - Oct 2 2 - Oct. 6 - 9
3- Oct. 13-16 4- Oct. 20-24
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT REQUIREMENTS:
1. 95 cumulative completed undergraduate credit hours
2. 45 undergraduate resident credit hours completed atTAMU, or degree posted in SIMS
3. 2.0 cumulative GPR at Texas A&M University
4. In good standing with the University. (No blocks, etc.)
GRADUATE STUDENT REQUIREMENTS:
Master's Thesis option
1. Eligible to submit Ring order once qualified for graduation from TAMU
2. In good standing with the University
Master's Non-thesis option
1.75% of coursework completed for degree program at TAMU
2. In good standing with the University
Ph.D. students
1. Accepted as a Ph.D. candidate atTAMU
2. In good standing with the University
HOW TO GET YOUR AGGIE RING ON DECEMBER 11, 2003:
If you meet the requirements after Summer '03:
1. Submit a Ring audit online at www.AggieNetwork.com/Ring or visit the Aggie Ring office to complete an audit
between September 15 - October 22, 2003.
2. The Aggie Ring office will send you an email with the status of your audit and, if qualified, assign you
an ordering session.
• Please allow 1 week to receive your email response.
• Contact the Aggie Ring office if you do not receive your email
by October 23, 2003.
3. Order your Ring during your assigned ordering session.
• Payment is due at time of order. We accept cash, check or
personal credit cards.
• Ring loans are available to qualified, currently enrolled students
at the Short Term Loan Office, Room 230, Pavilion. Please submit
your Ring audit before applying for a Ring loan. Visit
http://faid.tamu.edu or call 845-3955 for further details.
Visit wvm.AggieNetwork.com/Ring for complete details or call the Aggie Ring
office at 845-1050.
The Association
OF FORMER STUDENTS®
505 GEORGE BUSH DR.,
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS 77840-2918
(979)845-1050
www.AggieNetwork.com
OZOIMA
GRILL t BAR
BEAT THE HELL OUTTA
VA. TECH
THURSDAY NIGHT
WATCH THE GAME ON 17 TV*S
GREAT FOOD & $1 WELLS!!!
520 HARVEY ROAD - 694-4618
In the SUn4s 41
tlwtys
1st General Meeting/
Informational
SEPTEMBER 17
RUDDER 601
7PM
Our Very special guest speakers will be
past and present members of the 12th Man
Kickoff Team!!
Members this will also be your first chance to pick up your
membership packages!
FIND OUT HOW:
Info Session • Wednesday, September 17 • 7-8pm • 301 Rudder
1BI
■ u coo a iui e o m
www.teachforamerica.org
noNS
GREAT NAMt,