Crime reduction 

Card and fob access

Electronic access to business premises is common. This includes door entry phones, swipe cards and fobs that are read by computer-operated detectors.

Please consider the crime prevention advice below to make sure that you securely manage card and fob access to your business premises.

• Change door codes regularly. This is so that codes don’t become known to potential offenders.
• Make sure that passers by cannot see the numbers that you enter into external doors.
• Smart cards, tokens and fobs are easier to control than keys. Cards, tokens and fobs can be used to control, restrict access to, and restrict movement around a building. This can include gates, barriers, lifts and doors.
• Lost cards or fobs can simply be deleted from the system. A new one can be issued to a genuine user.
• These systems should have an ‘anti-pass-back’ facility. This means that the same card, token or fob cannot be used twice to enter a building – unless it has been used to exit the building first. Evening cleaning staff can be given an exit-only card. This does not allow them to re-enter the building.
• Give visitors and outside contractors a card or token that is valid only for specific areas at specific times.
• Management and security staff should be able to access all parts of the building. Other personnel should be allowed access only to parts of the building that are appropriate to their work.
• You can control entry to the building via an audio entry system with door release mechanisms at all access points.
• For extra security, a video entry system can be installed. This allows people inside the building to view any visitor and request identification to be shown before they are granted access.