Access control restricts how and when people enter and/or exit an area.
Your particular needs will determine how that is accomplished. Access
Control Systems allow people or vehicles into a restricted area via
identification through coded keys, magnetic cards, or biometric readers such
as hand, face, voice, finger of retina readers. These systems are used in
many businesses, hotels and apartment complexes.
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Why Should We Use Access Control?
Access control systems allow you to control who goes where,
to
document where and when they went into each area, to automatically lock or
unlock doors at certain times and restrict access to those visitors,
residents and/or employees who are supposed to be there.
Access control is the only technology that proactively attempts to keep
unauthorized individuals out of a building or areas within a facility, and
is a perfect complement to video surveillance, burglar and fire systems in a
comprehensive security solution.
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How Are Access Control Systems Governed by Law?
The state of New York requires companies installing locks or access
control systems to be licensed.
National and local building codes and fire ordinances usually regulate
the use of locking devices. One must remember that these are usually minimum
requirements and that the local authorities may have the last word in
interpretation and exceptions. Always check with local authorities BEFORE
installing any locks. Once installed, it can be quite expensive to replace
the locks and repair doors and door frames. There are specific requirements
for how you exit a building, which types of locks can be used, what will
happen in a power failure and what happens in the case of a fire alarm.
These requirements can vary based on how you will use the building. This is
the area where a training professional can be of the most help to you.
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What are Telephone Entry Systems?
Telephone Entry systems are commonly used in multi-tenant buildings that
hold offices, condos or apartments. A directory unit is placed at a door
that can be used to contact building occupants. It may have a list of
occupants and a code number that is dialed or may connect the visitor tot he
tenant as a button by their name is pushed.
Some of these systems use autodialers to dial a stored phone number when
the particular tenant is selected other connect directly to a phone or
intercom unit in each tenants location.
Auto-dialer systems:
- require a dedicated phone line from the local phone company.
- will not work for a tenant if the tenant his/her phone service
discontinued or if he/she simply does not have any phone service.
- require users to have call waiting service from the local phone
company.
- may not work while a phone line is used to connect to the internet.
- need to be reprogrammed when tenants move out or in.
Hardwired telephone entry systems are immune to most of these problems.
By tying directly into the existing telephone wirelines inside the building
at the lobby level (as opposed to a dedicated subscriber phone line) they
allow relatively inexpensive install.
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Each
system will have a lock or a barrier, a credential and a credential reader.
Many systems will also record the activity of who went where and when.
rst
we need a barrier to prevent someone from entering or exiting, such as a
locked door or gate. Next we need a way to determine who is trying to enter.
A credential reader is used to read the information on a key or card, to
register a combination of numbers entered on a pad or to identify some
characteristic that the user has, such as a fingerprint the shape of a hand,
a pattern in the eye, etc. This identifier is sent to a controller that has
stored a record of those identifiers that are authorized to enter the area.
If the credential holder is authorized the controller unlocks the gate or
door and the credential holder is allowed to enter. In many systems a record
of all authorized and unauthorized credentials is stored in the system for
future reference.