In almost any environment where safety and security procedures are needed, the management of physical access control items such as keys, key cards or master keys is necessary to the overall protection and defense of the facility. Whether it is a key that will open the door to a money counting room at a casino, or master card keys to enter a guest’s hotel suite, uncontrolled key access can cause serious security breaches.
Key control and management systems are proven access control solutions that can help organizations take control of their physical keys. Computerized key control and management systems are designed to securely and safely store keys in controlled key boxes and only release them to authorized users. In other words, access control for access control items.
To ensure the security of the system, each key is locked into place inside the access controlled key cabinet using a locking device which has an integrated chip. This unique feature ensures that each time a key is taken from or returned to the key cabinet, the activity is recorded. Users have access to keys only as approved by the system administrator. The other keys remain locked in place when the user accesses the key cabinet to remove or return a key.
In addition to these security measures, key control systems are designed so that users must enter their pre-programmed PIN code on the cabinet’s built-in keypad or scan their access card or biometric identification to access the cabinet. New technology provides other security measures such as network connectivity to allow online monitoring, updating and reporting capabilities as well as integration with other access control systems.
Access control is a highly regarded and proven security measure and controlling access to keys and key cards heightens its value and effectiveness.