According to the American Red Cross, approximately 45,000 disasters, man-made and natural, occur in the United States each year. Because of the seriousness of the potential for loss, security and emergency preparedness has become an essential tool in helping to limit the number and types of threats that facilities such as office buildings can face. While there are many different types of security solutions for office buildings, key management systems are a vital component of emergency preparedness to minimize loss and speed response.

As an example, imagine not knowing where the master key is when the building fire alarm goes off; or not being able to locate keys for company vehicles when a parking garage is flooding with water. Precious time is wasted looking for keys or locating personnel who may have keys on their person when instead that time could be used more effectively in response and recovery if keys could be instantly accessed or their whereabouts immediately determined. Key management systems can help address these situations.

Restricting access to keys and knowing the identity of employees who are authorized to use the keys enables security management to keep better control of building keys and helps to ensure faster reactions if there is an incident. With a key control and management system, all facility keys – including card keys, masters, keys for lock boxes and even vehicle keys are securely stored in a locked, tamper-proof automated key cabinet. Only authorized users can access keys for which they have been pre-approved to use. Once the user has entered their PIN or biometric information and the identification is confirmed, the key cabinet can be opened and keys removed or returned. The system automatically records all access activity so that management has a record of who took which keys and when.

Good planning leads to better response time and ultimately to minimizing the potential for damage. Key control systems are inherently critical to that plan.