-
Propping Doors – Protect Your Access Control Investment
Sure it’s convenient…for all the people you’d prefer to keep out! — Photo courtesy of TripAdvisor.
TODAY I was visiting a school, which has a very sophisticated electronic access control system. Teachers are provided with badges to facilitate entry into the school as well as into security sensitive areas (i.e. computer labs, server rooms). Facility management can program the system to do pretty much anything they need it to do: schedule certain doors to be locked/unlocked for holidays/special events, lock all doors immediately at the push of a button, and many other features. Their people have been trained on how to use the system. I know this because I managed the project to install the system.
On my way out, I left through a door that had been propped open using a brick.
I removed the brick, made sure the door locked behind me, and placed the brick out of sight so as not to be used again. Then I sent a text to the facility manager letting him know.
You can install the most advanced security measures imaginable, but your ROI becomes exactly zero when the people who have legitimate access to your facility decide to circumvent your systems. Take the time to talk to your staff, contractors, visitors, or students about the reasons that you need to keep your doors locked and closed. It’s extremely important to channel visitors through designated entry points, and, of course, make it more difficult to unwanted individuals to enter your facility.
Help your staff understand the bad consequences of propping doors, and reinforce the benefit of reporting incidents of door propping to facility management. This costs you only a small amount of effort and improves the effectiveness of your electronic access control system significantly.
