Access Management

RSS

Smarti^® Hybrid is a portable access control, presence tracking and building automation solution. 

This September will mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and some security pros fear that the worst could be yet to come. “Our view is that the goal of terrorists is to beat the devastation they caused on September 11, 2001, and one way to do that is to go after our children,” says Alan J. Robinson, director, Protection and Security Services/CSO, Atlantic Health, Morristown, NJ. “Topping the events of 9/11 is difficult to replicate; unfortunately, in order to exceed or even match the shock and awe of 9/11, terrorists must target a population so vulnerable it restores their reputation as a terrorist organization.”

Create an access management system that is tailored to the exact requirements of each area of your operation, whether on or off site…from protecting parking meter cash to auditing collection routes to controlling traffic to your buildings. 

Sony’s PlayStation Network is reported to have 70 million registered users worldwide. On May 2, 2011, Sony issued a statement that 12,700 credit cards and 24.6 million user accounts were compromised. The stolen data included names, addresses, dates of birth, passwords, security questions and answers and credit card information. This compromise is said to be one of the largest and most high-profile online data thefts to date.

The University of Arizona, like major research universities across the country, found that many of its grants and contracts were tied to higher levels of access security. Access to buildings with old-fashioned keys and locks or cards with magnetic strips swiped into pin pads didn’t provide the amount of security the University was looking for. So the school made the switch to smart cards.

Do you think that keys and locks are the oldest man-made security tool? Forget it. Guardhouses go back hundreds, if not thousands of years as a place a person would sit or stand, observe, control access, alert others and take occasional action such as dumping hot oil over the wall. These permanent and temporary structures, built in or brought in, are used in most every country. 

In July 2010 I wrote about workplace violence within the healthcare industry in this column. The main focus was a document that was published by The Joint Commission titled, “Preventing violence in the health care setting.” I also discussed OSHA document 3148, “Guide for Preventing Workplace Violence for Healthcare Workers and Social Service Workers.” Both documents serve as a guide in the implementation of a workplace violence reduction program. In the column I stressed the need to install physical barriers in order to control access within specific areas of the facility. In addition, I emphasized the need to control visitors into the facility through the use of a visitor management system.

Add dirty hands, dust buildup, vandals, salt spray, electromagnetic interference and even explosions to the rain, sleet, snow and the gloom of night that can affect operation of access control systems, and especially readers in harsh conditions. And there is the stress on readers that must handle intensive traffic or electrical situations that can knock out gear for a period of time.

Once considered safe havens, health care institutions today are confronting steadily increasing rates of crime, including violent crime,” said an alert issued last year by the Joint Commission, a national accrediting agency. 

I joke about people who are easily distracted and enamored by shiny objects with flashing lights.