Using turnstiles to secure educational facilities

Educational facilities such as schools, colleges and universities are constantly busy and experience heavy footfall and with this comes the potential for criminal activity to take place.

Educational facilities are at risk from a range of different crimes, ranging from petty theft and vandalism to more serious criminal damage and theft. In a recent article we looked at how proximity cards can be used to limit access and keep educational facilities safe and secure, but turnstiles are another effective measure that can be employed to increase the security of your site.

The first line of defence
Turnstiles should be the first line of defence in educational facilities and can prevent criminals from using tactics like tail gating to gain access to a building.

Tail gating involves a criminal quickly following behind a person who has been approved entry, shielding them from view as they go in to a building or area. While you can train staff and security to pick up on signs of tailgating, installing turnstiles is the best way to deter this practice. They restrict entry into a single flow, slowing down traffic and allowing for better monitoring by your manned guards and CCTV operators.

While CCTV footage can pick up on criminal activity in retrospect and be used in court to help convict a criminal, it doesn’t necessarily prevent the act from taking place. A turnstile stops criminals from gaining access in the first place as only those approved by nearby security, or with an access card can gain entry to the site.

In addition to this, they act as a powerful deterrent by sending a message to would-be criminals that the educational site is well secured and provide students, staff and visitors with peace of mind that they can conduct their learning without the fear of falling victim to crime.

Half height turnstiles
Waist & half height turnstiles offer a stylish and modern looking security solution for protecting an educational site which means that students, staff and lecturers can feel safe but not intimidated by security measures that are put in place.

They can be integrated with a number of different access control options including proximity cards, tokens, keypad entry and voice/video intercom control and can be customised to meet your needs. Here at Gateway we offer 4 different styles of waist & half height turnstiles – the TriFlo console, TriFlo Premier, TriFlo Sentry and Rotogate SI.

We also provide free feasibility surveys to assess your requirements and non-obligation quotes. Click here to arrange a callback or click here to download our free brochure.

Introducing Gateway’s Servicing & Repairs Options

We have recently added a new page to our website explaining the different servicing and repairs options that we are pleased to offer here at Gateway Automation. By offering these services, we aim to provide you with complete and total peace of mind when it comes to your gates, barriers and other perimeter security equipment.

We know that once you have purchased perimeter security systems and devices that is not the end of the story and that it should not be the end of your relationship with the installer either. Gates, barriers and other items of security equipment need to be well maintained in order to keep performing at their very best. It is a bit like after having purchased a car you need to ensure that it has a regular service and MOT so that it keeps doing the job that it was designed to do. After all, many of these items are going to be used all day, every day, and so need to be properly looked after. Once customers have gone through the process of searching for and choosing a manufacturer and installer, they don’t then want to have to go through the whole process again to find someone who will maintain the product. They would generally rather that it was done by the company that made and installed the product, and therefore knows the product best.

We also know that even if a gate or barrier is well maintained and looked after, there are occasions where something will break down or go wrong, a bit like a car that is well maintained can still have a problem or can break down. So, your gate or barrier might need fixing, or might need a spare part to replace one that has broken or warn out. We find that in these situations, people would rather go back to the company that made and installed the product rather than having to find someone else to sort it out.

So, we offer a nationwide reactive callout service with engineer response times of 8 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours and 7 days. This means minimum disruption for your business, your employees and your clients, as we know what an urgent problem it can be if your barriers, gates, turnstiles or other access control equipment suddenly stop working. We also offer nationwide maintenance contracts on our own products and on existing equipment made by other manufacturers and supply spares and parts for all manufacturers’ equipment. We have local and reliable service engineers based all over the UK and Ireland to ensure a fast and efficient service.

In short, we don’t believe that our relationship with our customers should end once the product has been purchased and installed, and as a result we offer a one stop shop solution when it comes to barriers, gates, turnstiles, access control equipment, bollards and other types of perimeter security equipment to ensure that your premises remain secure as intended.

To find out more about our servicing and repairs options, please visit http://www.gatewayautomation.co.uk/service-repair/ or contact us on 01522 682255 for a free, no-obligation quotation and feasibility survey to assess your perimeter security equipment.

Related articles:

• The benefits of barriers
• Choosing gate security for your premises
• 3 types of security gates you should know about