/ By Gateway Team / access control equipment • audio intercom • care home security • care homes • fingerprinter readers • intercom • key pads • nursing home security • nursing homes • security • swipe cards • video intercom/ 0 Comments

How care homes can benefit from access control equipment

clip_image002Care homes act as a refuge for our nation’s elderly people, offering them respite, round the clock care and a good quality of life. Unfortunately care homes are also considered an easy target for criminals looking to take advantage of their vulnerability and gain access to valuable equipment, possessions and personal records.

Owners and operators of care homes have a duty to safeguard and protect the wellbeing of their residents. However, with the level of ongoing care that is often needed it can be difficult to rise to the challenge, especially when coupled with staffing issues and overcrowding.

Care homes often have a number of different visitors throughout the day, from care providers and health care workers to social workers, friends and family. In order to protect residents it is important that you are able to personally greet each visitor and verify their identity; however this is not always easy – especially if you are at the other side of a large site when the door bell goes.

Intercom systems can allow you to quickly respond to a visitor requesting access even from a distance, verifying their identity and business either by audio or video for extra assurance of their identity.

Care homes also keep sensitive information on file of residents, information which needs to be protected. They may also have expensive equipment, shopping supplies or valuables kept away for which access needs limiting too. Using biometric devices such as fingerprint readers, swipe cards, keypads or smart cards you can make these areas accessible only to your staff.

Gateway Automation provides a range of products to help businesses and individuals secure their sites. We also provide nationwide servicing and repairs to gates, barriers and other perimeter security equipment. To find out more please call us on 01522 682255.

/ By Gateway Team / access control equipment • access control systems • biometric fingerprint scanners • biometric identification systems • drugs • fingerprints • prison security/ 0 Comments

How biometric fingerprint scanners can help secure prisons from drugs

clip_image002Last year in the UK there were almost 4,500 instances where prisoners were caught with illegal substances.

This figure is only expected to have risen with levels of drug abuse and use of synthetic drugs such as “spice” becoming widespread.

In fact, The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found that in 39 deaths between June 2013 and June 2015, the prisoner in question was known to have been using drugs or was highly suspected of doing so before their death.

The level of drug abuse in UK prisons presents a complicated problem for the Prison Service and highlights a need for new strategies to keep drugs from entering prisons. Recent reports have found that while drones are being used to smuggle in drugs, prison visitors remain the most common source of drugs in prisons.

Many prisons in Britain are now turning to Biometric identification systems as a method of identifying both inmates and visitors as they enter our prisons with systems already installed at Woodhill, Bellmarsh, Manchester, Long Lartin & Whitemore.

Biometric fingerprint readers are one of the most secure access control systems available on the market. This is because the person requesting access has to use their fingerprint to gain authorisation – and a person’s fingerprint is entirely unique. This therefore removes the chances of an inmate visitor impersonating someone else to gain access and further propagate the problem of drugs in our prison system.

If you are interested in learning more about Gateway’s range of high quality, low cost access control equipment then call us on 01522 682 255, or contact us here.