Imagine your workplace is located in the center of a large city, like New York or Chicago, where the streets are bustling any time of the day or night. The entrance to your office is at street level, the door is kept wide open, and there is no one at the door to monitor who comes in and goes out.
How comfortable would you feel at a workplace where strangers could come into your office off the street? How safe would you feel? How productive could you be when you're constantly looking over your shoulder for an unexpected visitor?
Instances of workplace and school violence are both at all time highs and seem to rising every week. The need for workplace security has never been greater. To protect employees and facilities, organizations of all sizes and industries incorporate visitor management systems into their building security strategies.
A visitor management system tracks the visitors to your building and may also create an ID badge for the visitor to wear while in the building. The increased security measures put employees more at ease in their working environment, allowing them to be more productive.
Organizations of all sizes and industries can easily and affordably implement a visitor management system to monitor visitor traffic in their facility by selecting an appropriate system and making minor facility and policy changes.
How comfortable would you feel at a workplace where strangers could come into your office off the street? How safe would you feel? How productive could you be when you're constantly looking over your shoulder for an unexpected visitor?
Instances of workplace and school violence are both at all time highs and seem to rising every week. The need for workplace security has never been greater. To protect employees and facilities, organizations of all sizes and industries incorporate visitor management systems into their building security strategies.
A visitor management system tracks the visitors to your building and may also create an ID badge for the visitor to wear while in the building. The increased security measures put employees more at ease in their working environment, allowing them to be more productive.
Organizations of all sizes and industries can easily and affordably implement a visitor management system to monitor visitor traffic in their facility by selecting an appropriate system and making minor facility and policy changes.
7 Steps to Implementing Visitor Management
1. SELECT A VISITOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.It's important that the system you choose includes individual visitor ID badges and creates a record of facility visitors. Most visitor management systems have refills, so your options are not limited by visitor volume.
2. IMPLEMENT ACCESS CONTROL.
To control visitor access to your building, limit the number of public entrances. After determining your public entrance, make sure all other doors are locked. Employees can use HID proximity cards to enter the building from those other entrances while visitors are required to use the monitored public entrance.
3. DETERMINE A LOCATION FOR THE VISITOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
Position the visitor log-in system at an entrance near visitor parking or in the main lobby. Choose your “gatekeeper”, the individual at the entrance, who will administer the visitor management system. You may want to use a receptionist or security guard to sign visitors in and hand out their visitor ID cards.
4. TRAIN EMPLOYEES.
4. TRAIN EMPLOYEES.
Inform your employees that a visitor management system is a precaution you take to ensure their safety. Train employees how to use the system, so they can fully understand the procedure. Encourage employees to make visitors aware of the new system ahead of time for a smoother transition.
5. EXPLAIN THE POLICY TO VISITORS.
5. EXPLAIN THE POLICY TO VISITORS.
Make visitors aware of your new visitor management policy by posting signs on entrances. The signs should direct visitors to log in at a reception desk. If you have a large number of regular visitors, you may want to create a more permanent visitor ID card for them with a pre-printed visitor card.
6. REQUIRE THE VISITORS TO CHECK OUT.
With a visitor management system, it's just as important to know when visitors exit your building. Require visitors to stop by the reception area after their visit is complete to turn in their
visitor card and check out. Adding this procedure to your policy will give you a comprehensive knowledge of who is in the building at any given time.
7. INCREASED SECURITY PROCEDURES.
visitor card and check out. Adding this procedure to your policy will give you a comprehensive knowledge of who is in the building at any given time.
7. INCREASED SECURITY PROCEDURES.
Depending on your organization, you may want to add increased security procedures to your visitor management policy. Require visitors to show identification when they sign in with your “gatekeeper” to confirm their identity. You may also require visitors to be escorted in the building by an employee. This is a great way to make sure everyone in the building is accounted for.
VISITOR MANAGEMENT IN ACTION
Community Hospital is a 58 bed hospital in rural southwest Michigan that recently implemented a visitor management system. Even with its modest size, the hospital takes patient and employee security very seriously. To improve facility security, the hospital's security committee created a visitor management policy to identify the numerous vendors, visitors, and contractors that visit the hospital on a regular basis.Previously, visitors were announced at the reception desk and permitted into the hospital without any form of identification. When creating the visitor management policy, the security committee wanted a visitor management system that tracked and identified all building visitors.
Community Hospital stationed a Visitor Log-In System at both of the two public entrances. All visitors through the front door or emergency room doors must pass by a receptionist who asks them to sign in. The other entrances into the hospital require an HID card that is given only to employees.
The visitor management system at the hospital now requires all visitors to sign in and wear an adhesive name badge. The name badge changes color after 24 hours to indicate that the badge has expired. More importantly, the login creates a record of all visitors so the hospital can track vendors and visitors in the building.
Prior to implementing the visitor management policy, the security committee first tested the system in order to work through their questions and uncertainties about visitor management. They set a date to roll out the program to the entire hospital and provided education to the receptionists, employees, and managers.
IMPLEMENTING VISITOR MANAGEMENT
A visitor management policy is an important part of your building security strategy. Visitor management serves as a gatekeeper for your facility and your people; protects your assets; and provides greater peace-of-mind for everyone in the building.