How are electronic guest passes to your workplace configured?
This morning, one of our colleagues could get into a building (and into various rooms in that building) using yesterday’s guest pass—because they’d been given access less than 24 hours earlier. Once the 24-hour time limit was met, the pass no longer worked.
There are potential security issues here. Another person (one with bad intentions) could use a not-yet-expired pass to gain access.
Visitor passes are an inevitable feature of security, of course. There are several things to think about when devising a process for managing security around visitors to your site—especially ensuring visitor exit security.
Visitor exit security: things to think about
- Who are they visiting? Do you need advance notice of visitors to your site? Do you need that person to take responsibility for their visitor, escort them while on site—and escort them out?
- How will you sign the visitor in and out? Knowing exactly who came in to the building might be essential if there were, for example, a fire requiring evacuation. However, if you don’t retrieve the pass or sign that visitor out, the emergency services might spend a long time looking for someone who is no longer there.
- How long should that visitor have access? Perhaps the pass could indicate how long the pass is valid for, either in text, or by using different colours for different days (or both).
- What areas should each visitor have access to? If it’s not ‘access anywhere’, how will you restrict their access? Perhaps you could limit the time period during which they have access to more sensitive areas, while still permitting more general access.
- Would it be helpful for the pass to indicate what kind of visitor they are? For example, maintenance people vs. people attending an on-site event. This might help identify those visitors who should no longer be in the building.
Many of us often sign in as visitors, as we move between locations, but probably don’t often think about the requirements of exit security.
Looking for some help with information security in your business? Contact the Click and Protect team on 0113 733 6230 or use our webform.
