A surprising number of access control systems are present in both homes and businesses. Along with front door locks, there are locks and keys for interior rooms, file cabinets, safes, and other such places and things. In a residence, interior locks usually don’t need to be too strong. A simple lock will keep people from barging in on people using a bathroom or keep kids out of the master bedroom. In businesses, needs are often more complex and require more robust systems.
Interior door locks in commercial settings may need to be as strong as those used for the main doors. Cash rooms, personnel offices, and other sensitive places are often targeted by thieves, snoops, or both. Putting better locks on the doors is just one part of the solution. Usually, employees will have different levels of authorization, so they may get keys for one or two rooms but not all of them. The general manager or owner, on the other hand, needs to be able to get into every secure area.
With an old-fashioned system, this is handled by using locks that can each be opened by two keys: One that’s specific to the lock, and one that works as a master key. The problem with traditional keyed systems of this sort is that the master key can be copied. Someone who manages to do this will have access to every room in the building.
Now, access systems can be set up to avoid this problem. One of the best solutions is to use electronic combination locks for all of the doors. While it’s not impossible to get the master combination, it’s much harder than simply “borrowing” an obvious key long enough to make a copy.
The main downside with any combination system is that people can forget their combinations, and tend to write them down somewhere in order to get by this problem. Therefore, it’s important for companies to teach good security techniques in this regard, just like it is for them to teach password security for computer personnel.
These are just two of the most popular types of multi-level access systems available today. Contact American Locksmiths to learn about specialized solutions for both home and business use.
