
Could integrations be the key to preventing congestion and infection at your workplace entrance?
Until recently, unless you suffered from a severe case of contamination OCD, having to touch something to gain access to your workplace wasn’t a huge concern. Over the past few months, this has changed. But, the security threats to buildings and their users remain. So how can you balance infection control with threat prevention?
Around the world, millions of employees have been working from home in an attempt to halt the COVID-19 infection rate but, last week, the UK Government announced new Coronavirus guidance encouraging people in England to return to work, if safe. In the US, the Governor of New York – the hardest hit state – said some regions of the state were ready to gradually begin reopening their economies from Friday 15 May, when a statewide restriction order expires. Lockdown restrictions are also gradually easing in the Middle East, as businesses start to welcome back employees.
To get economies moving again, this slow return to the workplace is expected to happen around the globe, so building owners and business leaders have been giving much thought to how working practices and site operating procedures can be adapted to ensure the protection of their workforce.
When employees return to their places of work, monitoring and controlling building entrance points – especially during peak times – will be crucial to ensuring social distancing guidelines are respected, and that employees are as safe as possible from the moment they enter the premises.
Security should still be a priority
Security must also remain a top concern during this time and, arguably now more than ever, it’s vital to know exactly who is in your building or on site at any given moment.
“Some of the advice I’ve seen shared in the media has stated that any entrance control systems – such as turnstiles – should be set to open to avoid bottlenecks at peak times,” comments Tony Smith, Major Accounts and Marketing Manager at Integrated Design Limited. “Another concern is hygiene, and further advice has suggested that any access control systems requiring skin contact – such as fingerprint scanners – should be disabled. These steps, whilst helping with infection control, will compromise security unless other measures are put in place.”
If your organisation’s security relies on entrance control systems to monitor and manage the movement of people in/out and within your buildings, simply disabling them could leave your people and assets exposed to other threats. How would you prevent unauthorised intruders, possibly with harmful intent, gaining access your premises?
“Key to ensuring both a frictionless and contactless entry for your employees, whilst also maintaining a high level of security, is integration between leading technologies,” adds Nicolas Raffin, VP Marketing Biometric Devices at IDEMIA. “Queues of people forming as they wait to enter the workplace is out of the question. When integrated with Fastlane turnstiles, the MorphoWave™ Compact allows authorised users to gain access with a simple wave of the hand. There is no need to touch anything and there is virtually no dwell time. The system is capable of processing up to 50 users per minute, avoiding the issue of bottlenecks forming during peak times.”
The patented touchless sensor technology of the MorphoWave™ Compact scans four fingers in 3D in less than one second, ensuring the most accurate and reliable fingerprint matching for maximum security.
Coronavirus prompts spike in demand for touchless access control integration
“We’ve worked with a number of third-party vendors over the years, and have seen a variety of integrations with varying degrees of success,” comments Nicolas. “For me, IDL’s method of integration really stands out as their technical and design teams go to the effort of incorporating our product into the pedestal of the turnstile itself, rather than treating it as a bolt-on. This is a great benefit for companies who are concerned with the aesthetic appeal of their systems, and how they blend seamlessly into their environments.”
Whilst IDL has been successfully integrating touchless access control systems like IDEMIA’s MorphoWave™ Compact with its Fastlane turnstiles range for many years, with hygiene now more important than ever, there has been a marked increase in the number of customers asking about contactless access control solutions.
“We have increased manufacturing capacity for MorphoWave™ Compact to cope with this increased demand,” comments Nicolas.
And it’s not just new customers asking about this integration.
“For customers who already have Fastlane turnstiles installed, we can look to provide a retrofit kit to attach a replacement end panel to turnstiles units if requested, to seamlessly integrate the MorphoWave™ Compact retrospectively, and IDEMIA also offer a freestanding mount as an alternative option,” adds Tony. “This means that existing systems may be able to be upgraded to help companies abide by the Government’s stipulations, removing the need to start entirely from scratch and saving time and money.”
If you would like further information about this integration, please contact our team today on +44 (0)208 890 5550 or send us an email to info@fastlane-turnstiles.com to find out more.