Page 58 - the SyI Quarterly V3 digital (1)

Our Corporate Partners

Want to open your building

again safely after lockdown?

Look at how your security

system can help.

Gordon Swallow – Strategic Business Development

Manager, Gallagher Security UK

With lockdown measures slowly being lifted, we are all looking for positive measures
we can put in place to take control. Helping to provide certainty will bring optimism
to individuals, groups, and companies alike. To deliver this, you need to look at
what your technology systems can do for you right now. You, your investors, your
customers, and your staff want to know when your site will be open and working
again. Now is the time to start planning. Your security system should be at the
heart of your strategy. Used correctly, it can help you emerge from lockdown safely,
efficiently, and as quickly as possible, whilst ensuring you can continue to operate.

Security is more than access control
Site managers, health and safety executives, directors, and security professionals need to start looking at their security systems in a
new way. Gently shifting your view from one that sees access control as just a security system, to one that facilitates the control of
people movement will greatly increase the safety of your site at multiple levels.

Social distancing advice will still be in place as we continue to come out of lockdown. My own personal experience of this has
been amazing, with most people I see (while out walking the dog) keeping well over two metres apart. Despite this, it’s obvious
that putting new occupation limits in areas or zones within your building will help this behaviour to continue. Look at how your
access system could keep track of zonal people counts to actively allow or deny access as the building is used. At the point of access
denial, it should also be possible to alert the individual as to why it’s happened, ensuring a feeling of safety within the building.

Reduce contact points
Your staff are most likely using plastic cards to gain access to your building. Issuing new ones is a high contact activity. New cards
will be required for all new employees and these often get shared, lost, or forgotten every week. Switching to secure access using
mobile phone technology will make huge differences with regards to cost reductions and a contact-free environment. Deployment
of the new credential is achieved easily and securely via email with second-factor authentication, removing the need to visit a
security office or reception on arrival at the site.

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