Hazmat ID Elite has become a critical tool for first responders fighting the opioid epidemic, including protection against the powder form of illicit fentanyl and its analogues. It is a next-generation, field-based solid and liquid analyser that identifies dangerous substances in one minute or less. Hazmat ID Elite uses miniaturised and ruggedised Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, to enable tests to be conducted at the scene of a crime or in the field. Its results are so reliable that they may be used as court-admissible evidence and aid in medical response cases where a suspected overdose has occurred.

Stephen Esposito, Vice President, Business Development for Smiths Detection Inc., said, “The growing fentanyl exposure risk to first responders is severe since inhalation of very small amounts can be life-threatening. Our range of field-portable detection and identification solutions will provide agencies like DFS with the ability to make better decisions to keep responders, and their communities, safer.”

HazmatID Elite is among four leading field-portable solutions that Smiths Detection has adapted to detect and identify fentanyl.