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accesscontrol
CODELOCKS HAS THE ANSWER
FOR HOSPITAL ACCESS
This case study from Codelocks
illustrates how digital door locks control
contractor access at University Hospital,
Southampton
Access control products are widely
used within hospital buildings to
enhance the safety and security of the
people and equipment inside. For the
locksmiths working in the estates building
maintenance department at University
Hospital Southampton, access control
is a high priority. Supervisors, Eamonn
Devaney and Ron Bran, and their
team* need to control the movement of
thousands of people on campus and keep
the hospital running efficiently at the
same time. With over 9,500 employees and
a large transient population visiting the
hospital daily, this is no easy task.
To help deter unauthorised entry to
restricted areas, the estates building
maintenance team use a combination of
access control products including locks
and keys, hard-wired systems requiring
RFID cards and readers, as well as
standalone mechanical and electronic
digital locks. Working together, the
products help create physical barrier,
while at same time allowing authorised
personnel to go about their daily routine.
Managing room keys and access cards
for hard-wired systems on a large scale
can be problematic. With such high
numbers of staff working at the hospital,
it’s inevitable that some will get lost or
stolen. The time taken to manage the issue
of new and replacement keys and cards
can be considerable, but it’s essential in
order to maintain security.
Because cost is such an important factor
when considering which access control
products to use for new buildings or
refurbishments, it’s not always possible
to extend the use of hard-wired systems
throughout campus. Sometimes it’s more
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THE NOV/DEC 2014 ISSUE
SPONSORED BY DAVENPORT BURGESS
cost effective to look at a standalone
solution, and this is where the use of
digital door locks can provide many
advantages.
Digital locks can be installed one door
at time without impacting other systems.
There are no keys or cards to issue; instead
staff members are given an access code to
get through the door. Access codes can be
changed on a regular basis to help prevent
codes from being passed on or misused.
Digital locks are either mechanically
or electronically operated. The estates
building maintenance team use hundreds
of mechanical and electronic door locks
all over campus to give access protection
to areas such as treatment rooms, offices
and laboratories.
The main advantage of electronic door
locks over their mechanical counterparts
is their ability to provide more functions.
With electronic digital locks, more code
combinations are available, the locks
will shut down temporarily after three
incorrect code attempts and code changes
can be made via the keypad. Now, thanks
to developments in technology, some
electronic door locks facilitate PC-based
programme control and audit trail. Where
previously only card-based access control
systems could provide this functionality,
the doors to new applications for this
product are wide open.
A good example of this is at the
University Hospital Southampton, where
the estates building maintenance team
is trialling the use of eight new digital
electronic locks with audit trail from
Codelocks. One of the challenges the team
faces is the ability to protect vital supplies,
equipment and machinery needed to keep
the hospital operating efficiently. Access
protection is needed to deter theft and
damage to property, both of which disrupt
the smooth running of the hospital.
The hospital employs different
contractors to manage the building’s
services, and the contractors’ engineers
need regular access to rooms containing
plant and machinery. Using the
Codelocks’ CL5010 tubular mortice-latch
locks with audit trail and accompanying
software, the team can allocate individual
time-sensitive access codes to plant room
doors. The codes will only work for the
hours the engineer is contracted; they will
not work outside this timeslot.
The digital locks record all of the access
codes used in an audit trail log, which can
be downloaded using a USB memory stick
and analysed using the data management
software. This gives clear visibility of who’s
been through each door and when. The
locks also register incorrect code attempts,
so if someone is trying to get access out of
hours, they will know.
The estates building maintenance team
can create up to 900 individual access
codes, allocating an engineer’s name
against each code. To save time, lock
settings can be copied from one lock to
another and the new settings uploaded via
the USB stick.
So far, the trial at University
Southampton Hospital has worked
very well and everyone is happy
with the functionality the product
provides. Supervisor, Eamonn Devaney
commented: “All of the experienced
locksmiths working on the team have
found the product to be very user friendly
and easy to maintain. It’s also great
knowing that Codelocks is on hand to
provide additional support if necessary.”
Unlike other access control systems this
product requires no hard wiring, cutting
down on installation costs and causing
very little disruption.
As technology continues to enable
improvements in the performance and
capability of electronic digital door
locks, the breadth of t