Singapore imports Aussie iris-recognition technology

Argus Solutions chief executive officer, Bruce Lyman, said Singaporean employers can be heavily penalised for failing to ensure that their workers are not illegal immigrants. He sees the deal as a "strong next step" into a potential lucrative market.

"Singapore places a heavy responsibility on employers to ensure that the person working for you is properly registered. As a nation, they face major problems with illegal workers being attracted by the opportunity for much higher paying jobs than in some surrounding, less affluent countries," said Lyman.

He added that iris-recognition technology gives an advantage to employers, especially in the construction industry where fingerprint recognition may not be convenient.

"The problems are particularly prevalent in the construction industry and at industrial facilities where there is a heavy demand for blue-collar workers. Iris-recognition technology comes into its own here because you don't need to carry identity cards that can be lost, destroyed or demagnetised. Unlike fingerprints, iris recognition is not affected by having dirty hands or worn fingerprints through heavy manual labour," Lyman said.

Lyman believes that iris technology is the most effective security method against identity fraud.

"It is the most accurate form of identification known to man and is more accurate and importantly less invasive than DNA matching. Every iris is completely unique due to the chaotic morphogenesis process that is completed by the time a child reaches their first birthday so the probability of two irises being identical is minute: 1 in 10 to the power of 78," Lyman said.