What is access control? 4 ways to increase workplace safety

The pandemic continues to play a major role in shaping how companies bring their people back on-site. Many workplace leaders are looking for ways to keep their physical buildings safe for employees and visitors.

They’re looking to technology to help answer those questions. Some are considering an employee registration tool to manage each step of inviting employees back to work. Some are looking to touchless access control systems to help reopen their office safely. Others are doing both.What is touchless access control? And how does it help you keep your workplace safe? Read on to learn four ways touchless access control systems increase workplace safety and security so visitors and employees have peace of mind coming to the workplace.

What is access control?

Building access used to require separate physical keys. Then came keycards and fobs. Now electronic systems can unlock any door without touching any shared surfaces. Touchless access control systems can work using your personal mobile device or even face recognition. When you tie access control to your visitor management system, these benefits extend to anyone coming into your workplace. Beyond that, touchless access control can help companies manage a safer return to the workplace. Here’s how:

1. Unlock doors without touching them

The problem with physical keys, keycards, or fobs is that they can be easily cloned, lost, or stolen. On top of that, they’re unhygienic. Anyone returning to the office during or after the pandemic will be hypersensitive to contamination. Companies have to address the issue of how to unlock doors safely and with minimal contact. Touchless access control systems offer a simple, secure way to enter any building or workplace using just your face or mobile phone. Once the door is unlocked comes the problem of actually opening the door. There are a few options available for companies to consider:

• Invest in automatic doors so people can avoid touching door handles
• Advise people to push open the door with a shoulder, forearm, elbow, or even an object in their hand
• Provide hand sanitizer and disinfectant to regularly disinfect door handles

2. Give visitors a touchless sign-in experience

Any guests who plan on coming to your office will likely be nervous before visiting. It’s an unknown environment. They’re not sure what health and safety measures you have in place. Put them at ease with a touchless sign-in experience. This not only helps reassure visitors that you’re keeping their safety in mind but also increases building security. You can easily manage a touchless sign-in for guests using a visitor management system. Here are a few important steps you can take to increase workplace safety when you connect your visitor management and access control systems:

• Send visitors entry instructions via email before they arrive so they have directions and know how to access your workplace.
• Take some of the mental load off of your guests by sharing important health and safety information before they come onsite.
• If you need guests to sign any documents or take their photos, give them the opportunity to do so in advance. No signing a logbook or tapping on an iPad in the lobby.
• Grant visitors touchless building access by providing a QR code in their email invite that they can use to enter your space.
• Offer the option to download an app for easier, quicker access. This is especially useful for frequent visitors.

3. Tie building access to employee wellness

The CDC suggests conducting daily health screenings before allowing employees to return to the office. You can use an employee registration tool to manage who is coming to the office each day and send them a health questionnaire before they arrive. This is an important way to ensure that no one is sick before they come in. The CDC recommends asking anyone who plans to come to your office if they have a fever or any symptoms consistent with COVID. You may want to ask other questions to help you determine if they may have been exposed to COVID-19, like:

• Have you traveled out of state recently?
• Have you been in close contact with anyone who has COVID in the past 14 days?

You can connect this to your touchless access control solution so that only employees who have been approved to come onsite can access your workplace.

4. Take control of building access remotely

Another benefit of touchless access control systems is that they are cloud-managed. This means you operate and update everything remotely. No need to worry about rushing back to the office when an employee needs a new key card or gets locked out by mistake. Admins can grant or revoke access, change user schedules, and edit permission levels from anywhere, anytime. A few reasons why cloud-based solutions are critical for workplace safety:

• They get rid of the need for face-to-face interactions for reasons like issuing keycards or fobs
• Security teams can instantly lock or unlock any door in a building to immediately handle safety or security threats
• Admins can revoke access for employees who have not been approved to go onsite
• Admins can visually verify visitors with video intercom and grant building access from anywhere

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How are you keeping your company’s physical space and people safe? Implementing an access control system will not only give your people peace of mind coming back to work, it’ll also ensure you keep a finger on the pulse of who’s on-site. With this information, you can grant or deny access as needed to keep your site secure.

Ready to learn more? Find out how to tie Envoy to your access control system to keep your company safe.