Tackling school security problems

The cornerstone to tackling school security problems is enhancing access control to buildings.

Naturally, access control is one of the best tools for securing schools. The bread and butter of an access control solution in a school setting is to record when individuals enter and exit the building. This gives school security personnel a log of all visitors, helping to identify, track and monitor staff, students, and visitors effectively. Allowing people to come and go as they please without any tracking system can be dangerous for everyone in the school.

So, let’s tackle some of the more robust features of access control solutions for schools. On hand to help us is Melvyn Teo, Market Development Manager for Vanderbilt in the Asia-Pacific region.

“To ensure the safety of students, it’s essential to have a comprehensive, well-known fire and disaster drill procedure,” begins Melvyn. “A key component to this should be muster reporting. This impactful access control feature delivers a real-time list of all students who have badged into the school building.”

Significantly, when students exit the building, the muster report automatically updates. Therefore, in the case of a fire or other emergency, a missing student can be quickly identified. “Another fire safety procedure implemented through access control is creating a “cause and effect” rule whereby all doors automatically unlock in an emergency,” Melvyn adds.

Sadly in these times, lockdown procedures are also a must for creating an all-around secure access control solution for school security. Lockdown procedures are reserved for maintaining safety when there is an immediate threat to those in the school. Melvyn explains: “Thanks to this feature, areas can be shut down immediately following a security breach to protect students. Subsequently, the would-be intruder’s movement can be restricted through the zonal lockdown and can be monitored via video feeds until police arrive on site.”

Finally, a popular student destination, the library, also happens to house an abundance of valuable equipment such as computers and printers. This can make them critical targets for theft or vandalism. Still, by integrating an access control system with video surveillance, security managers can investigate video feeds directly from their access control interface. 

Melvyn adds: “Here, we can once more borrow from the use of a “cause and effect” rules mapping engine playbook. Security managers can create a rule whereby they will receive an email notification anytime someone used their access control fob to enter the library after hours.”

*For more on access control solutions to tackle school security problems, contact Vanderbilt today and enquire about their award-winning access control platform, ACTpro. For an example of ACTpro in action in a school setting, read our case study, ACTpro protects boarding home in Singapore.