A beginner’s guide to access control and building site security

All companies, whether they are small, medium of large all face security concerns in various forms.  For one, employee theft in small businesses has risen by an alarming 15% year on year.  While many large corporations hire security personnel to help prevent this type of theft from occurring, the security of assets owned by many small and medium businesses is often left to the office manager or an admin assistant to oversee.

To enhance the security measures which are suitable for small and medium businesses, there are various electronic devices available that can help to control access to the building or construction site- such as building site CCTV and even scaffold alarms. These construction site security measures not only allow only authorised personnel onto your property, they also protect your site from the threat posed by external intruders too.

Some of these site security systems work by alerting security staff if a door is forced open, as well as raising the alarm for internal threats such as if a door  has been propped open- leaving your building or site vulnerable.

If you have valuable equipment or other items that you wish that your employees not to have access to, some electronic systems raise the alarm if someone if trying to gain access to this particular room- keeping your property safe.  Some of the most basic and easy to use access systems are operated using a pin code, or other access equipment such as key cards or tags so that only authorised people are able to gain access to a site.

Often access control systems are made up of the following components;

• Software that is used to program your system, giving you full control of who enters your site, at what entrance point and at what time of the day.
• A control panel which is used to store all of the systems hardware components.
• A multiple amount of readers which are used to scan the key cards and fobs and grant access to eligible users, or if your access system requires a pin number to be entered keypads are provided.
• A numerous amount of locking mechanisms which only lock when the access has been allowed by the use of a key card or correct pin number.
• Exit devices to unlock the doors when authorised people wish to leave the controlled area.
• Finally most systems come with status devices which trigger an alert when the doors are opened or closed.