Access control is a vital underlying component of your commercial security system. Significant for its ability to regulate entry to different buildings, rooms and spaces within your business's premises.
By integrating access control with your commercial alarm system, businesses can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their commercial security system to help ensure the safety of their employees, patrons and property.
What Types of Commercial Alarm Systems Are Available?
Depending on the industry, commercial businesses may require the use of a wide variety of alarm systems to protect their employees and property from harm.
Common commercial alarm systems may include:
Burglar Alarm Systems: Intrusion Detection Alarms are security alarms that detect unauthorised access into a secured area. This may include door and window sensors, motion detectors and glass break sensors.
Fire Alarms: Fire alarm systems may include smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and sprinkler systems to notify occupants of potential fires or fumes.
Environmental Alarm Systems: Temperature alarms, flood alarms, water sensors, and gas detection alarms may all be essential additions for specific industries.
Medical Alarms: Healthcare facilities may benefit from the use of Personal Emergency Response Service (PERS) alarms, fall detection and out-of-bed alarms to help manage the care of their patrons.
Panic Alarms: Commercial Panic Alarms or Duress Alarms may be vital for signalling distress when employees require aid in stressful situations.
Whilst these are some of the more common commercial alarm systems available, many businesses or industries may require more specific alarm systems to ensure the safety and security of their facilities.
What are Access Control Systems?
Access control systems allow businesses to restrict and permit access to systems or spaces within the business. Common forms of access control that most people will have interacted with include door keys, card keys, pin codes and login authentication through usernames/emails and passwords. More advanced forms of authentication include biometric authentication through fingerprint scans or facial recognition as seen in movies.
Access control may include:
Manual door control with a live CCTV feed to monitor entrants, like what may be seen at a service station.
Electronic guest entry registration, such as an electronic tag to be scanned for access to approved areas of the facility.
Magnetic locks and door strike entry systems, for restricting or granting access to areas during a power outage.
Push to exit emergency doors.
Keypads or control panels
Security guards, and security monitoring services.
Access control is often split into physical or logical access control, with physical referring to the methods above and logical typically referring to data access in an organisation's IT network through user authentication and related digital access controls.
Your business likely already has some basic form of access control already such as door keys or pin codes used to disable or isolate the intrusion alarm.
Why Integrate Your Access Control and Commercial Alarm Systems?
Access control integration is an essential consideration when installing a commercial security system. In an emergency, how should your access control system act in combination with your other alarm systems?
During a fire, it could be dangerous if your access control system doesn't interact with the fire alarm system and the doors remain locked, potentially trapping employees or patrons in the hazard. Or, in a bank, for example, should activating the duress alarm instead combine with the access control system to lock the doors leading to employee-only areas?
There are any number of reasons why your commercial alarm systems should integrate with your access control system. By integrating these two security systems together you can help ensure access is automated appropriately for the hazards you have alarms for. Or that security can be maximised.
Integrating your access control system with your commercial alarm system is a vital part of ensuring your business employees, patrons and property are safe in the event of an emergency.
With over 30 years as Perth's security system specialists, contact the team at Tecsec for all your access control system and commercial alarm system installation needs.