Performance Evaluation of an Rfid-Based Fire Safety Equipment Identification System Integrated with The Izat Digital Platform: A Case Study at a Thermal Power Plant

Abstract

Routine inspection of fire safety equipment is a core element of occupational health and safety (OHS) management in power generation facilities, yet paper-based inspection is slow, prone to identification and recording errors, and difficult to trace. This case study evaluates an RFID-based equipment identification system, already in operation and integrated with the iZat (Zero Accident Assistant) digital inspection platform, at PT PLN Nusantara Power UP Tanjung Awar-Awar, Tuban, Indonesia. Between April and July 2025, data were collected on the inspection of 778 equipment units (440 portable fire extinguishers, 323 hydrant boxes with accessories, and 15 first-aid boxes) through direct observation, structured interviews with 25 respondents, and document review. Manual and RFID–iZat inspection were compared descriptively using a non-concurrent before–after design. Mean inspection time fell from 2.5 to 1.2 minutes per unit, a reduction of 52%. The recording error rate for equipment identity fell from approximately 7% to none in observed records, and the equipment data displayed after a tag scan matched the registered data in all observed scans. Because the comparison is uncontrolled and confined to one site, these figures are observational estimates, and they describe the integrated system rather than RFID alone. Reported constraints were tag loss and damage, areas with weak network coverage, the absence of supervisory validation of submitted reports, and the absence of the previous inspection result on the scan screen. The study contributes an empirical account of an operating RFID-integrated inspection platform in a thermal power plant, a mapping of system functions to the components that provide them, and a record of operational failure modes.