44 • HARDWARE&SECURITY
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A war on winter
»»WITH WINTER APPROACHING FAST,
facilities managers and building owners
need to think long and hard about what
this season brings in terms of security
and safety issues for their buildings and
occupants, explains Simon Osborne,
Commercial Leader UK & Ireland at
Allegion UK.
When winter approaches the UK, there
are some common and recurring talking
points that come with it. For instance, you
might hear around the office the talk of
crisp, cold, refreshing morning air, time
off around Christmas, winter warming
beverages and comfort foods.
What isn’t normally discussed around
the watercooler is securing the office for
long nights, protecting your building’s
occupants from potential attacks, checking
your external openings are secured against
would-be burglars and not losing heat
from the building through draughty gaps
in doors. These discussions are normally
reserved for the facilities managers and
building owners.
Why is this? Well, these issues are not so
visible and known – not everybody knows
how cold temperatures can affect doors
and their furniture. They are also obviously
not so popular. Lastly, topics such as breakins are almost talked about in hushed
voices - nobody wants
to think about
what could happen,
and people
tend to think it’ll
never
happen anyway.
However, that is a dangerous mindset to
take, as the winter brings many dangers.
These topics should be at the top of the
agenda for any person responsible for the
building when the cold season strikes, not
just to secure your building’s valuables,
but to ensure the health and safety of
occupants inside.
With that in mind, here are five common
scenarios in winter and what you can do to
avoid the problems they bring.
LOW OCCUPANCY AT CLOSING TIME
By 5pm in December, the night has drawn
in and darkness has enveloped the building.
Normally around this time, most office
workers are leaving or will have already left
for home. The last to leave is given the task
of locking up the building.
Of course, if you work in a densely
populated urban area, attacks might seem
less likely; however, if your place of work
is on a business park or estate where it
may not be as well-lit and protection from
footfall is not as great, then you are more
susceptible to becoming a victim.
To deter or prevent
would-be attackers, use
of timed access control
systems can automate the
process of locking up.
This also means that
you can lock down
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | NOV/DEC 2016
entrances to the building from a single tap
of a button on your smartphone or desktop
computer and make sure that, should
access be needed during the night, only
those authorised and known to the person
responsible for the building can gain entry.
Use of exit devices that have been tested
above and beyond the standard security
grading can also protect your building and
its contents. Installing floodlights and CCTV
is a good way of keeping your building from
becoming a target.
DOOR SWELLING AND CONTRACTING
Door swelling is a major problem to
external doors, frames and even windows.
Just as the summer heat will cause doors
to expand, the cold of the winter can
shrink doors back down and cause doors
to swell as they absorb moisture, causing
problems for both the door and the
operating components.
For example, a swollen or bowed
door can cause door locks to move
out of line and jam against the strike
plate, or can also bend the arm of a
door closer. This is problematic for a
number of reasons.
If users with reduced upper
body strength need to open these
doors, they might be unable to do so.
Or, if the door doesn’t latch to the frame,
particularly if it is an external door, then
there’s a huge problem with regards to
security. In addition, for a certificated fire
door, it may be illegal to have more than a