Back to work: Refining the workplace environment for safety, security and compliance
We have recently seen many people in a wide variety of industries return to a workplace environment, having previously worked from home during these challenging times.
With this change in situation comes the need to control the movement of people at work, to make sure they are safe and secure, while minimising all potential risks - whether they are due to building safety or changes regarding new working practices.
In addition, there is the consistent requirement to meet fire and escape standards, and for specifiers and building and facilities managers, it can be an ongoing challenge to control movement, mitigate risks and ensure a safe environment.
After the unprecedented events of the last year, it’s vital to keep employees feeling safe and secure, building confidence to return to the workplace. To assist with this, there are compliant solutions available that offer full controlled and audited access to selected areas, with easy to change access permissions giving the flexibility to adapt as required.
These innovative solutions are also suitable for ‘non-contact’ door operation, offering improved security and peace of mind for both the managers of a building and its occupants. They also allow controls to be added to existing systems to meet the needs for personal space, access management, and the health and safety of personnel.
What’s more, the need to change workplace layouts and personnel flow routing is becoming more evident during the present ‘return to work’ phase. Continuously changing work patterns and occupancy levels mean a greater focus on flexible solutions that can provide the additional control when it is required.
In the new workplace environment, internal compartmentalisation of the open office and greater versatility may be a requirement. However, running cabling to internal access controlled doors such as meeting rooms, IT and stores can be disruptive and expensive.
Solutions also need to be quickly adaptable, scalable, and suitable for use in a wide range of building types and applications. If no access control system is currently in-situ, a digital and a wire-free key system is quick and easy to install, and can easily replace the existing keys to provide immediate control and audit capability.
Handles, locks, and cylinders that communicate remotely with the installed access system mean no wires going to the doors, cabinets, or compartments that you are securing, so it’s simple, quick to roll-out, and cost effective.
This type of solution means there are no costs associated with wiring to the doors, but offers the ability to grant access to the digital key for an individual’s shift or for a specific date and time, or remove access for the key, making the system fully auditable for health and safety purposes.
With this in mind, Abloy offers a range of digital access solutions to meet virtually any requirements, to provide flexible, scalable and compliant security, and help control the movement of people.
These include Incedo Business, Aperio?, SMARTair?, and CLIQ?, which can be combined in a number of ways to create a bespoke access control system, designed specifically for an organisation’s needs.
Incedo Business is a universal security system that blends access control and security hardware with a choice of software in one scalable environment, offering flexible access control.
If you require a wireless solution, Aperio? technology offers cost-effective, integrated access control, and is the ideal retrofit option to upgrade an existing access control system to wire-free.
SMARTair? is another of our access control systems, which utilises electronic locks to provide advanced, user-friendly access management with multiple credential options.
Our eCLIQ? solution is the ideal retro-fit solution for offices and buildings to control the movement of employees and contractors. The secure system provides a wide range of data for health and safety purposes, and allows users to easily grant, change and remove access. In addition, eCLIQ? is completely scalable from only a few keys or users up to thousands of keys or users.
The challenging times are not over yet, and for building specifiers and facilities managers the hard work may have just begun. But no matter what the evolving requirements of your building are when it comes to security, access control and compliance, Abloy is here to help advise and steer you in the right direction.