24 Hour Renton WA Locksmith
Renton Locksmith WA | Locksmith Renton | Locksmith Renton in Washington
Call (425) 880-2503
Call us (425) 880-2503
Access control sounds mysterious and sometimes intimidating. In actuality, it is simple and is used by many on a daily basis. It simply means that access is restricted to certain areas of a building or property. As forbidding as that sounds, it’s not anything scary. We see versions of it every time we go to a bank or museum. Even grocery stores practice access control. When you are shopping for milk or cat litter, do you go all the way into the back of the store where it is clearly marked “employees only”? Do you wander into the manager’s office and sit at his or her desk? Do you sit with the store employees in their break room? No; of course not! Your access was controlled by either a lock or a sign or a keypad and you knew better!
The technicians here at 24 Hour Renton WA Locksmith are big proponents of access control. That’s because we understand how vital it is for things like crowd flow, employee access, customer service and better security. Anytime you have groups or crowds of people, you will need to control their ability to go wherever they want. Take your home for instance. When you have dinner guests over do you allow them to rummage through your closets and basement? When you visit your jeweler, do you go inside his office or visit his jewel vault? Access control allows us to restrict access to those not qualified to enter. It offers security, privacy and better control over building access and crowd flow. When you last went to the movies, did you notice the exit signs? Did you follow directions and leave through those doors? We bet that you did. Can you imagine if there was a fire and people panicked; running helter-skelter all over the place? There would be trampling, injuries or even deaths due to all the chaos! Instead, with exit signs, panic bars and other access control devices, crowd flow is both managed and maintained to minimize problems.
Buy a red car of a certain make or model and you’ll start seeing them all over the place! Same with access control! Soon you’ll start noticing forms of access control everywhere you go in Renton, WA or anywhere else that you may visit. You can find access control in hospitals, nursing homes, apartment buildings, storage rentals, movie theaters, car dealers, laundromats, fast food outlets, dry cleaners, book stores, home improvement centers, banks, grocery stores, call centers, jewelry stores, cafeterias and many other places.
From sporting events to casinos access control is present because it flat out works! Places of employment, stores, public facilities and government institutions all use access control in one form or another.
Panic bars are those horizontal metal bars on exit doors that you see everywhere. They are a much used form of access control. You see them here in Renton, Washington and all over the country because they work. They are also known as push bars and they allow easy flow through an exit. If you’ll notice, no door knobs are on the other side of the exit door. Traffic is better regulated this way with no door unlocking and knob turning and people coming in AND out through the door.
Swipe cards
These are also known as badge cards and are used extensively in call centers, banks, government offices and school settings both private and public. The “allowed” personnel simply swipe their badge through a card reader and if the bar code or chip is recognized, access is granted. Should an employee be terminated or have their access revoked, the system can be adjusted to not let them in.
These useful locks dispense with keys and simply use a number sequence entered into a keypad. It can be used for staff members, guests, customers and owners with each person having a unique number sequence that if entered correctly, will gain them entrance. Keypads are already used in the automotive industry as keyless entry, and they are just as effective in banks, jewelry stores, restaurants, retail stores, hotels, apartment rentals, fast food locations and thousands more. Safeguards are always used with keypad locks so that too many wrong entries will block the user from trying again, or sometimes even calling the police!
Biometric locks are becoming more commonly used every year. Biometric is another term for thumbprint or fingerprint locks. No keys are involved but they can have a key backup system in place for emergencies. Apple’s iPhone is one example of biometric entry systems. The user must present his or her thumbprint on a keypad in order to operate the phone. Often there is a keypad that can also be used with a number sequence as an additional backup. You can find biometric locks in many business and institutional locations like banks, high rise condos, hotels, restaurants, museums, government offices, shopping centers, medical offices, jewelry stores, fine dining, university buildings and other similar locations.
Signage is vital to our everyday lives. It is also instrumental in access control. Exit signs tell us where to leave the room or building. Highway signs tell us where to enter, exit and how fast to go. We use signs to locate bathrooms, offices, classrooms, hotels rooms, custodial areas, restricted zones, employee only areas and even handicap access. Signs show us where we are allowed to go and when we should stay away.
Our Renton locksmiths are happy to answer any questions that you may have about access control. We not only sell access control hardware and systems, we install and repair them, as well. Whether you are interested in access control for your business, residence or institutional location, it’s easy to get price quotes, additional details and quality service by simply calling our shop or that of your favorite local lock professional. Either way, access control can benefit your life and keep your staff, customers and guests safer and better organized.