Building security has moved beyond locks and dependable security guards. Today’s threats require sophisticated security. The next generation of access control will converge physical and network security into one manageable entity.
- By Ken Hertzler
- Mar 03, 2008
Mention border security, and you might imagine the intersection of two countries, or perhaps the border separating government facilities from private land. But border security also can be defined as perimeter security, which expands the concept to encompass walls, fences, roads and other perimeters around businesses, schools, prisons, utilities, research facilities, and other properties and buildings.
- By John Monti
- Mar 01, 2008
They may not be as cutting edge as video analytics and other new security breakthroughs— but every building has them.
- By Shawn Mahoney
- Feb 29, 2008
When an incident occurs on campus, the main obstacle is bridging the gap between those who have information concerning the event and those who need to know. Two examples can be used to analyze this problem.
- By Samuel Shanes
- Feb 14, 2008
At this year’s Super Bowl, GPS/wireless tracking devices will be used to monitor, track, and manage security personnel in real-time via the Internet, which may speed up security incident response times.
If you pick up any local employment guide, you cannot avoid seeing the many call centers with ads that read, “Customer service representatives wanted—immediate hire.” Why are these call centers continuously struggling with hiring and turnover?
- By Jacquellin Faison
- Feb 01, 2008
Whether in retrofit or new construction on college campuses, the business case for deploying wireless access control systems in networked openings is compelling. Wireless solutions seamlessly integrate into existing access control panels, eliminating wire between locks and access control panel interfaces and providing a complete solution at each opening. Implementing a wireless solution takes significantly less time than its traditional hardwired counterpart.
- By Beverly Vigue
- Jan 07, 2008
You’ve all seen that guy in the hallway: that unfamiliar face. “He must be the new guy.” “He must be here for a meeting.” “Isn’t he Jane’s husband?” “He probably works for facility management.” In too many cases, employee simply do not know who or why that person is wandering around the premises
Correctional facility infrastructures are aging, inmate populations in the United States are increasing, and the cost of operating jails and prisons is growing twice as fast. Correctional facility officials know these facts all too well.
- By Felix Gonzalez
- Jan 03, 2008
Towering high-rises, sprawling college campuses and mass transit hubs can all have hundreds or thousands of people occupying them at any given moment. When a crisis emerges, it’s critical to protect lives, and that job becomes difficult when people are spread throughout a facility or across a wide area.
- By David George
- Jan 03, 2008
The Department of Homeland Security’s publication of chemical facilities anti-terrorism (CFAT) standards has many chemical and petrochemical companies scrambling to develop security plans for their high-risk facilities. The continued post-9/11 threat of terrorism dictates urgency, and the DHS put teeth in the CFAT rules.
- By Carol Enman
- Dec 04, 2007
Administrators at Haltom High School in Haltom City, Texas, wanted their school’s ID cards to be useful, but never did they imagine the cards would help thwart a drug dealer. “We have used student and faculty ID cards for the last decade,” said Rick Mauderer, associate principal at Haltom High School and the person responsible for the school’s ID program. “As a high school of more than 2,600 students, there is no way we can know who every student is, especially with substitute teachers in the building.
- By Sharon Steinhoff-Smith
- Dec 04, 2007
In Cincinnati, when you say “school’s out,” it has a whole different meaning. That’s because all 65 schools in the Cincinnati Public School District—encompassing preschool through grade 12—are part of a massive, $1 billion facilities master plan that will completely change the face of the city’s educational infrastructure.
- By Jeff Hendrickson
- Dec 04, 2007
Say you have some pasture land and a few horses. Chances are you won’t install a security system to ensure their safety and security. However, Stonestreet Farm isn’t your run-of-the-mill horse ranch. It’s a thoroughbred horse farm that sprawls over 460 acres in the heart of the bluegrass near Lexington, Ky.
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- Nov 27, 2007
After returning from a business trip earlier this week, I undertook the all too familiar task of sorting through mail, newspapers and magazines that had accumulated during my absence. Among the articles were a number of stories from different parts of the country that reported about local officials having ordered evacuations of neighborhoods because of the release of toxic gases. The largest incident, in North Carolina, required 17,000 residents to evacuate their homes -- from a town of 28,000. The residents were ordered out because of a fire at an industrial site, a hazardous waste business that housed a variety of volatile chemicals, including chlorine. These toxic releases were not related to acts of terrorism, but do highlight the inherent danger of living near chemical facilities