Heard of access control and want to know what it is, why it’s important and the benefits it can have on your business? We’ve explained it all. Keep reading to find out more.
An access control system is used to control when a specific person can enter a certain location within a building or site. The person could be an employee or visitor and could be travelling on foot or by car or bicycle. Access control is therefore a way of increasing the security of a building or site, by controlling who can go where and when.
Access control systems usually use access cards or key fobs to authorise individuals into certain areas within a business premise.
Access control is a system that helps you understand how your building or site is being used, by tracking when individuals enter and leave certain rooms and locations, as well as improve the overall security of your site.
It’s important to know who is in your building and when, especially in an event of an emergency, such as a fire. In addition, an access control system stops unauthorised persons entering your site, which could be especially important in environments such as schools and places of care. Have dangerous machinery or confidential material onsite? You may not want all your employees to have access to certain areas. Access control can therefore help keep you and your employees safe.
Access control eliminates the need for traditional keys, which can easily and often get lost or mislaid, thus creating a potential security breach. If there are multiple rooms and buildings with restricted access, this also means multiple keys are needed for each individual, which can be bulky to carry around – access control eliminates this issue.
By tracking who enters and leaves your premises, it allows you to know who is where and when and that everyone is working where they are supposed to be. It also means that if an incident, accident or theft occurs, you will be able to identify exactly who was in the area or space at that specific time.
An access control system can protect your staff and visitors by stopping unwanted visitors and non-authorised persons from entering your premises. If someone without access tries to enter the building, they won’t be able to and this significantly increases the security of your site as well as the safety of your employees and visitors.
Another benefit of an access control system is that is can reduce your overall costs. This is due to not needing to replace and supply keys, locks and employ security personnel to keep your site secure. This is especially relevant in a large scale company that may have thousands of employees and multiple floors and buildings. Instead, you will need to install one access control system, that can also be integrated with your other systems such as lighting, heating and appliances, to turn off when the room or building is not in use, thus saving on energy bills.
By controlling the building access, no unauthorised individual will be able to enter, meaning intruders will find it much harder to enter and commit a theft.
Employees will not only feel more secure on site, but will have an improved employee experience. They will be able to access different areas of the workplace with ease, without relying on others or security personnel to open and close buildings and rooms. This will give them more flexibility in their ways of work and will improve their overall employee satisfaction.
There are therefore several benefits of access control systems and their importance is key in maintaining a safe and secure environment.
BusinessWatch specialises in designing, installing and maintaining bespoke access control systems for businesses, across multiple industries. Get in touch on 0330 094 7404 to discuss your business’ requirements today.
