Here at Planet Fire, we believe that an access control system should provide safe and secure access for your employees and all authorized individuals. Just as importantly, they can keep unauthorized people out.
What Does an Access Control System Consist of?
An access control system can consist of something relatively simple such as an electronic keypad on a door to large networked systems for more than one building. One of the good things about access control system is that you don’t need to worry about keys, lost ones or hunting for the master set. More importantly you won’t have to worry about those who’ve left your organisation and still have an old set of keys, and who may, potentially have access to unauthorized areas.
What Size Access Control System Do You Need?
How many doors do you need to secure? This is a prime consideration when deciding on the size of access control system. Depending on what’s behind the door, you may not need access control, so decide which areas are the most sensitive and which ones you feel need security the most. Carrying out an audit will provide you with some useful information so you can allocate a budget for what you need.
After you’ve decided on which doors need access control, you will then need to consider the type of doors you have. How they are physically made may determine whether they are suitable for access control systems.
Also, consider the following:
Who will be accessing these particular rooms, will it be employees only, or will some customers have access?
What are your doors made of – steel, wood, aluminium or glass
Do you need to secure garage doors or gates to a parking lot
You may need a large installation if you’re securing more than one building. If this is the case then the access control systems would be operated over a network and that way you’d be able to manage security from one place, a central point.
There are different types of access control systems:
Free Exit – this will detect a person approaching and unlock the door, or it may come with a bar or button that will allow people to leave.
Controlled Exit – With this system, anyone entering needs to enter code or use a card to get into a building and also to get out. As you can imagine, this does provide better security.
What will you be using your door access control system for?
We know that an access control system is designed to keep unwanted people out. The entrance to a highly sensitive area could be anything from a simple front door, the server/CCTV room, a medical records room or any room where sensitive information is held.
You may want to track when your employees enter and exit the building. Make sure you know exactly what you want to use an access control system for and that way you can make some wise choices.
As we’ve already seen a simple keypad or a card are the simplest forms of access control. If you want to create a more sophisticated access control system, you could add a thumbprint and a card as a form of identification. Finally, if you want to add a CCTV or/and an alarm system then this may give you added security and peace of mind.
If you have any further questions or you are interested in having an access control system installed then please get in touch with us here at Planet Fire – we are experts in this area and we’re happy to help.