Safer and brighter

A recent innovation that uses luminescent pigments to highlight exit routes is helping to make venues safer. The same technology is also being used to improve ticket security

By Ben Malakoff of Honeywell, a provider of speciality materials

Safety and security are two of the most vital issues facing the world today. They are topics continually on the minds of millions, if not billions, of people worldwide. Many different approaches and measures have been devised and implemented to increase the security of everything, including commerce, major events, and transportation.

Strontium aluminate pigments emit bright light for
up to 15 hours

One company with a particularly innovative product is Honeywell. Its Lumilux, a synthetically produced luminescent pigment that glows in the dark, is ideal for improving safety and security. When exposed to light, such as daylight, UV radiation, or white lamplight, Lumilux absorbs and holds energy. This energy is then emitted as light that shines brightly for up to 15 hours.

For increased safety, Lumilux is widely used for many of today's state-of-the-art photoluminescent escape route signs and safety way guidance systems. It is used in homes, airplanes and ships, and other places where power outages can occur. According to Honeywell, they have patents and license agreements in place to be one of the only two worldwide suppliers of the strontium aluminate long-afterglow pigments. “These pigments have exceptional product qualities, by far exceeding the traditional luminescent materials currently in the marketplace,” said a company spokesperson.

For increased security, Lumilux can be incorporated into papers, cheques, bank notes, credit cards and other valuable documents. It can be integrated into a variety of inks, paper, packaging and plastics that are invisible to the human eye, but detectable to security personnel solely by using special equipment and technologies. The product was introduced more than 30 years ago, but it has been put to particularly high-tech use in recent years.

One notable organisation that recently benefited from Lumilux is the United Nations (UN). UN headquarters in New York are home to approximately 4,500 diplomats and staff members from nearly 200 countries. The building consists of 41 stories above ground, with various floor plans. Additionally, there are three basement levels – each more than four city blocks long – containing numerous office clusters, and a host of mechanical and storage rooms.

Lumilux can be incorporated into credit cards and
other valuable items

To enhance building safety, the UN installed an emergency exit pathway marking system to guide occupants while exiting the building in the event of an emergency. Electric, mechanical and chemical systems were considered to illuminate exit pathways during an emergency. However, the UN ultimately selected a photoluminescent system made with Lumilux that does not rely on external energy sources for activation. Now, all aboveground corridors are marked with photoluminescent acrylic arrows pointing to the nearest staircases and exits to improve traffic flow in an emergency.

This system was put to the test when a massive blackout hit much of the northeastern United States and parts of Canada on 14 August 2003, knocking out New York’s electricity. On that day, diplomats, staff and visitors were safely evacuated from the building because exit routes were clearly and brightly illuminated with signs and markers. The system was so effective that some employees who left the building but were unable to get home returned to the UN and spent the night there. They said that the next morning, safety signs in the interior of the complex were still glowing strong.

The pigment can be used in safety signage materials such as paints, surface coatings, ceramic tiles, coated glass, flexible or rigid plastics and enamelled metals, which can then be easily affixed to walls and other structures, providing illumination in the dark.

Besides its prominent use in safety signage, the pigment has security benefits that are evident around the world. When incorporated into a range of applications, it serves as a security measure that is almost impossible to imitate.

This added security has been utilised in tickets for high-profile sporting events, where fraud and counterfeiting are always a risk. Each year, many unsuspecting fans often pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to illegal vendors for tickets to attend these sporting events, only to be turned away at venue gates because they hold counterfeit tickets.

One such event was the Super Bowl in 2004. This championship of the National Football League (NFL), the United States’ premier American football competition, attracted almost 100,000 spectators and more than 50 million television viewers worldwide. Thousands of fans normally descend on Super Bowl cities leading up to this annual game. This massive influx of people often requires extra security measures, and the NFL strives to keep its events safer and more secure.

Adopting new technology and security measures each year, organisers now include bar codes and one-of-a-kind holograms on Super Bowl tickets. In 2004, the NFL added Lumilux to its tickets to maximise security for the fans, the league and the host city of Houston, Texas.

The league also used the world’s first photoluminescent paper, made by Brightec. The NFL had the Super Bowl’s theme picture of downtown Houston printed on Brightec’s patented paper, and as a result, the ticket appeared normal in daylight, but the image of Houston at the top of the ticket came to life in dim light or in the dark. Upon inspection, Super Bowl staff instantly recognised if a ticket was legitimate. As a result of the extra measure, staff reported that ticket fraud dramatically decreased.