News Article
Today's Access Control Systems can do so much more than Simply let the "Good Guys" in and the "Bad Guys" out all the Time
Michelle Morra, Security Matters
Winter 2009
A sign that says “keep out.” A key. A scary-looking guard. For centuries these did a pretty good job of denying people access to restricted areas. But as unwanted guests have evolved in their methods of breaking in, so too has access control.
The technology comes in varying degrees of sophistication. Depending on the end user’s needs, it can identify unwelcome individuals, track their whereabouts in a facility, and record information about who came and went at precisely what times and precisely where.
While the goal of access control remains simple — implementing physical security procedures to ensure people are granted or denied access to certain areas — advanced methods bring new complexities. Experts say successful access control doesn’t lose sight of certain fundamentals.
Planning ahead, for one. Kevin Ling has been in the business of security and loss prevention investigations for 18 years and today works as loss prevention manager for Giant Tiger, a discount store with locations throughout Canada. He sometimes jokes that retailers set up a building, fill it with merchandise and open their doors, ready for sale. “And then at the end of the day when they’re ready to turn off the lights and close the door for the first time, someone realizes they didn’t get an alarm system or keys to the building.”
For access control to be both effective and cost-effective, businesses are increasingly putting their systems in place sooner than later. The ideal time to think about access control is at the building design stage, says Ling, when more and more loss prevention officers are involved in deciding the building’s layout and how to control the flow of traffic.
Advance planning also makes it more feasible to integrate access control, such as smart card readers, with other security and non-security systems in the facility. Technologically speaking there’s no reason not to have all systems interlaced, but it’s easier said than done for companies that gradually add systems over time.
“You could walk into a security operations centre and find two, three or four different systems,” says Paul Guindon, chairman of The Commissionaires’ national business management committee. “You have building systems, fire panel, smoke alarms, intrusion alarms, access control, and they’re not tied together. You have guards watching different screens doing multiple functions because the integration is not there.”
The challenge, says Guindon, is when, where and what you buy. Having all systems from the same vendor can make integration easier, especially if you’re fortunate enough to plan everything at the design stage of your facility. But if you’re like most people who start a business in a pre-existing building or have been adding new systems to old ones, access control consists more of piecemeal, independent systems tailored to individual areas.
BALANCING ACT
Desirables in, undesirables out. By its very nature, access control walks a fine line. So balance is the key, say the experts.
Balance security with business viability.
Access control has always been about letting the good guys in and keeping the bad guys out. What’s different today is that, in becoming more technologically effective at keeping people and merchandise safe, it can work too well. The old Consumers Distributing retail chain, for example, had a great system that kept theft to virtually nil. Customers walked in, flipped through catalogues, placed their order, and didn’t see the merchandise until a salesperson brought it out from behind a big wall to ring in the purchase. That ultra-secure, but highly-unfriendly method of access control may have had something to do with the company’s demise.
“You have to answer the question, what is your primary purpose of needing access control?” says Ling. “If you work in retail and your aim is to protect your merchandise and you want customers to buy that merchandise, putting up a steel door with one-door access and having a guard in it will not solve your problem.”
“Access control during the day is nonexistent,” adds Danny Williams, manager of security and facilities safety at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. With 7,500 staff members, as well as visitors, patients and contractors, his department has had to identify high-profiles areas, such as pharmacies and computer areas, where theft is a concern. Card access is exclusive to those areas.
At night, the hospital is locked down. People can access emergency, but can’t get through to the rest of the hospital without checking in with an access control guard. At other times, however, the hospital must function with a constant flow of traffic.
Balance security with individual privacy.
High tech doesn’t always mean high respect for employees and clients. Biometrics, for example, has gained a lot of ground because there is really no better way to identify an individual than from a thumb print. But don’t forget there are privacy laws.
“If you require your cashiers to biometrically scan into a building,” says Giant Tiger's Ling, “from a systems standpoint it sounds like a great idea, but may open the door to privacy concerns about how that information is obtained, stored and communicated. Some businesses may be trying to implement practices from a security and access control standpoint without fully understanding the impact it will have on their associates’ right to privacy.”
Balance visible vs. invisible deterrents.
In case anyone is thinking of defrauding or stealing from your business, you want them to see your access control system. Whether it’s an alarm sticker on the window, a guard at the door or a herd of Rottweilers in your parking lot, some degree of transparency lets your employees and customers, as well as the bad guys, know you take security seriously.
Most people wouldn’t steal from you, but to stay one step ahead of those who would, a certain measure of secrecy is inherent to any security program. Hence the hidden camera and the extra security staff behind closed doors.
“I believe there needs to be a level of transparency to what we as loss prevention professionals do for the public,” says Ling. “But there are things we would not want known.”
Security professionals, he adds, operate with the notion that 10 per cent of people will try to defraud or steal from you no matter what; 10 per cent would never do such a thing; and the other 80 per cent could be persuaded one way or the other. “We spend a lot of time dealing with that 80 per cent,” he says.
In business, you want to be inviting. You want to entice. Ling says a row of brand new barbecues lined up outside your front door is enticing, but they may still be chained together for security’s sake.
“That’s a form of access control, control of who is allowed to take one. We’re locking them up for that small percentage of the population who would roll away with a barbecue without paying for it.”
Michelle Morra is a freelance writer in Toronto, Ont.
WWW.SECURITYMATTERSMAG.COM WINTER 2009 • SECURITY MATTERS 25
SOURCES
Brivo • www.brivo.com
Commissionaires • www.commissionaires.ca
HID Corp. • www.hidglobal.com
Keyscan • www.keyscan.ca
Note: These links will only be live as long as the providers make them so. Email webmaster to let us know if a link does not work so we can remove it.
Return to News Article Archive
Return to News Articles