After yet more school shootings began making the news, the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois decided to completely overhaul its virtually nonexistent lobby security a year and a half ago. “(The shootings) made us realize we needed to put something in place to secure us a little bit more. We may be looked at as a target because we are in an old high school building, and our property is combined with the (new) high school next door to us,” says Patrick Ketchum, Director of the Office for Insurance and Benefits at the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.
Because the door is the first part of a building that the public can enter, it’s important for businesses to maintain good lobby security. “If you’re talking about just a building, the lobby is the first area you’re trying to protect,” says Tim Sutton, Security Consultant at Sorenson, Wilder & Associates. “A lobby is a buffer, a receiving area for people between the public side of the building and the private side.” If at all possible, it’s best to have employees come in a separate door from the lobby.