In a lot of workplaces, it’s commonplace that people just kind of accept that keys will go missing every now and then. It’s priced into the annual budget, and then broadly just forgotten about.
However, in a lot of contexts, this simply isn’t a viable approach in terms of security. With an increasing number of effective key control solutions emerging due to technological advances, it’s now easier than ever before to implement a key accountability solution that effectively increases both employee safety and security – here’s how it does so.
Access control to dangerous areas & assets
One of the main safety benefits of key cabinets from providers like Traka is their ability to provide effective access control. When your business has dangerous tools, chemicals, or even complete areas, it can be imperative from a health and safety perspective that you’re able to control and see who enters these areas.
Key accountability means that only people with certain codes or key cards can get into specific spaces, increasing safety for the whole organisation. It means that well-meaning employees doing what they think is a favour can’t hurt themselves, and neither can those with less pure intentions hurt others.
Reduced theft
Key accountability also makes theft a much less attractive prospect. As a lot of these kinds of systems also track exactly who has accessed different areas at any specific time, if you spot that something has gone missing, it isn’t at all difficult to assess who was responsible.
In most cases, the mere knowledge that this is the case is enough to prevent would-be internal thieves from even trying. In the case that something does happen, the automated paper trails make asset recovery very easy.
Improved compliance
While the practical side of safety and security is obviously critical, it’s important not to overlook the importance of regulatory compliance. If auditors come into certain workplaces, you need to be able to convince them that you’re taking the right steps to protect both your employees and the public from potentially harmful machines and assets.
Digital key control solutions make accountability much easier to prove, with access logs visible to those with the right credentials from anywhere with an internet connection. This, combined with the fact that you can change access permissions remotely, makes it a lot easier to keep regulators happy with how you’re running things.
Ease of use
Lastly, having a system that essentially does all the boring legwork for you makes it far more likely that everyone uses it properly. Ease of use can result in a massive drop in terms of complacency and sloppy key control practices, while the reduction in day-to-day workload also makes for a more content workforce.
Key accountability is basically a must for any organization that uses keys to control access to assets or spaces. It’s worth investing in an advanced solution to these kinds of problems early on, so that you can reduce the risks outlined above as soon as reasonably possible and start the stopwatch on your ROI.
