Access Control

Controlled access is what access control really is; nothing more. You see it everywhere you go. If you valet park, you’ll notice the roped off section where the parked cars go. The rope will not keep people away by force, but they know that that area is off limits. You see the same thing at the movie theater; roped-off theater rooms are not showing movies at the time and the ticket counter is meant for staff only; just like the concession stand! Jewelry stores have signs that say “staff only” or “office” and grocery stores have loading zones and employee break rooms clearly marked. It’s not just local businesses that use access control either. Visit your local DMV and you can plainly see where you are supposed to go for car registrations, license renewals, fee payments, customer service, etc. You can look around and watch staff members working at their stations and sometimes disappearing behind a door that is clearly for their use and not yours. Access control can even be used in residential settings. Have you ever attended a realtor’s open house and noticed that certain rooms were locked or off limits?

Access control is everywhere you look

Have you ever bought a new car and then suddenly noticed that you see that particular make and model everywhere? Access control is much the same. You’ll start to notice it all over Coon Rapids, MN and if you don’t live here, you’ll see it in your home town, as well. This is because access control works, and works well. You’ll see it in use in commercial, residential, institutional, hospitality and educational settings all over the world; in one form or another. Here at Coon Rapids Supreme Locksmith we offer our customers whatever level of access control systems they need or want. We’ll discuss a few of them here and we invite you to call our locksmiths or your own if you live elsewhere to learn more.

Access control actually promotes security

Life can be safer and better regulated with access control systems. Start with your home. You have a lock on your front door and hopefully you use it. Sure, people know better than to simply walk into your home but sometimes a lock is needed to ensure that rule. Locks, signs, flashing lights, turnstiles, roped off sections, and other forms of access control help promote security, organization, and help to prevent unfortunate accidents like walking into the wrong room or area of a building. This is why access control can be found in public schools, grocery stores, museums, hotels, fast food outlets, shopping malls, apartment rentals, public parks, universities, gas stations, hospitals and hundreds of other places. A full service locksmith will be able to outfit your property with whatever access control system you happen to need. These may include fingerprint locks, video surveillance, keypads, panic bars, swipe cards, badges, cam locks, deadbolts, slide locks, mortise locks and so many more.

Panic Bars

Panic bars are an effective use of access control. They control crowd flow out of a room or building by allowing people to exit faster and without having to fight incoming foot traffic. This is because there is no knob to turn or hardware to unlock when panic bars are used. You simply lean against the horizontal spring loaded metal bar installed on the door and push. This simple action saves time and effort. Since there is no knob or lock on the outside for anyone to use, the exiting crowd does not have to fight incoming foot traffic that could hold up the exit process. Panic bars are also known as push bars and exit bars and the majority of them are equipped with alarms to prevent people leaving the building from stealing items or getting out of paying a tab. You can find panic bars most everywhere including restaurants, nursing homes, hotels, retail stores, bars, shopping malls, night clubs and even art galleries. Schools, prisons and city buildings also use panic bars on a regular basis.