Hospital Security Audit: How Secure Is Your Access Control System

Medical institutions face many challenges. One of the most important is ensuring the safety and well-being of all on-premise individuals. Hospital access control systems are used to increase security but they can only help if installed and set up correctly and efficiently. A cohesive effort between hospital management, security, HR, and IT is necessary to ensure everyone’s safety, prevent theft and violence and avoid a shutdown of hospital operations.

WHO IS PROTECTED BY ACCESS CONTROL? 

Even in a smaller hospital setting, it is difficult for security cameras and personnel to keep an eye on everyone at all times. Not only that, your security officers may not be allowed access to specific areas, such as those that house dangerous substances or contagious patients. With access control, you can protect all people throughout your hospital at all times.

• Hospital staff – administrative, doctors, nurses, utility crews, volunteers, etc.

• Patients – referrals, walk-ins, scheduled check-ups, emergency cases, inpatients, outpatients

• Visitors – family and friends of patients, hospital staff visitors

• Hospital suppliers – medical representatives, delivery crews for medical and non-medical supplies

• Vendors – cafeteria and concessions servers, gift shop staff, and all other vendors

The need to protect staff, patients, and visitors from those with malicious intent is also something to consider. 

ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM FUNCTIONS

Protecting high-traffic areas may seem a little more obvious, but there are also critical areas of the hospital that don’t receive high foot traffic and still require stringent security. Implementing access control means protecting all areas from unauthorized access and restricting entry to areas that are closed off to the public.

It also allows for monitoring the movement of guests and hospital personnel throughout the building(s), identifying individuals who can access restricted rooms, and granting entry to personnel who have clearance to specific areas of the hospital. Your security team is enabled to program specific security parameters based on your needs.

In such a fast-paced environment, it is critical that hospital security is ready and able to respond when a crisis occurs, such as a sudden influx of emergency patients, a stream of media, and police in pursuit of a high-profile patient or a dangerous individual entering the building. Access control systems allow you to deploy lockdowns (specific areas or the entire facility) and usher people in the right direction during an emergency to ensure their safety.

Incorporating access control maintenance in your routine security audits will ensure your systems are working properly.

ACCESS CONTROL SECURITY AUDITS: FOCUS POINTS

Regular audits are vital for ensuring that your access control systems are functioning correctly. It is important to pay particular attention to the following five areas. 

1. Physical Barriers – Access control audits should include tests on physical barriers like magnetic and auto-lock doors and turnstiles and speed gates for pedestrians and cars. Barriers that are slow to respond could be problematic in emergency situations.

2. Identification Devices – Impress upon your staff the importance of keeping their personal identification and access keys safe. Built-in devices like biometric-access locks, access control keypads and identification sensors must be programmed to admit the correct clearance levels into certain areas of the hospital. The audit should also extend to the data logs, which show an accurate record of foot traffic into restricted areas.

3. Door Control Hardware and Software – Faulty access control due to careless installation and software bugs can render your access control system useless.

4. Clearances – It’s imperative for the administration to keep a close watch over the clearances of all hospital employees, vendors, and visitors.

5. Human Resources should immediately deactivate identification devices of resigned or terminated employees. Don’t wait for a system audit but do initiate small, periodic audits to ensure everyone has the proper access.

If you are looking to update or upgrade your hospital’s access control systems, we can help. Not only that, we specialize in nurse call systems, panic buttons, fire detection, mass notification, and communications systems installation, integration, and maintenance, too. Contact us for more information!

HALO: Health, Safety & Vape Building Automation

Prevent vaping while detecting CO2, bullying, and gunshots. This is not the future. It’s the now and our resident HALO Smart Sensors expert, Shannon Davis, with nearly 30 years of experience recently chimed in on the ongoing school and hospital safety conversation. 

Q: What is HALO Smart Sensor? 

A: These IoT sensors monitor much more than vaping. They can detect/measure aggression/violence, particulate concentrations, humidity, temperature, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon dioxide (CO2) carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the air. 

Q: In English, please? 

A: Detect and measure things such as:

• Vape and vape masking detection

• Smoke detection

• THC detection (the only vape detector that can detect THC oil)

• Gunshot detection

• 911 via spoken keyword

• Aggression detection (emergency keyword alerting & audible alerting when there is shouting or fighting)

• Building health monitoring/health index

• Disease prevention via indoor air quality monitoring

• Vandalism and trespassing alerts via light/occupancy detection

• Emergency lighting to navigate the building safely during a lockdown

• Temperature, humidity & pressure alerting

• HVAC energy costs

Q: Are you saying HALO not only detects vapors but also sounds?

A: Yes, it is able to understand preprogrammed keywords (bullying, fighting, etc.), shots fired, and other forms of aggression or violence without breaking any laws as there are no recordings. 

Q: What are the best applications for HALO?

A: Institutions seeking security and air quality measures favor HALO for its emergency management and building automation but there are many applications for it. A few industries that have benefited are:

• College campuses

• K 1-2 schools

• Preschools and daycares

• Other types of classrooms and learning facilities

• Hospitals

• Apartment complexes

• Assisted living facilities

• Hospitality/hotels

• Break rooms

• Bathrooms

• Commercial buildings and office spaces

Q: What have the schools you’ve worked with been saying? 

A: Some school districts currently require monitored bathroom breaks. This either means that the teacher stops class to accompany students to the bathroom (waiting outside) or another paid employee goes. It’s not a great system and it costs them both money and time. 

HALO helps save on these precious resources but, more importantly, protects minors from harmful substances. By placing the HALO Smart Sensor in the center of each bathroom with security cameras just outside the bathroom doors (so you can see who is going in and out), schools are able to significantly reduce campus-wide vaping issues. Even if your students exhale into their jackets or a bottle or if they spray cologne or air freshener, HALO will detect all vape fumes. 

Q: What else are you hearing? 

A: Schools and hospitals are loving the aggression detection feature. For obvious reasons, you can’t have cameras in the bathrooms and it’s illegal to record conversations in most states, however, there is no recording with HALO. It merely detects abnormal sounds and loud noises and sends an alert in real-time. 

Another perk for schools is that when kids start getting tired or checked out during the school day, it’s often because the CO2 levels are too high, stealing their oxygen. The air quality monitoring not only helps put fresh air back but mitigates airborne bacteria and viruses, keeping your students and staff healthy. This is accomplished by the HALO devices notifying the HVAC system.

It’s just an added bonus that these institutions are also saving money by efficiently their HVAC systems! HVAC + HELP = HALO

Q: What kind of alerts and tracking can I get with HALO? 

A: HALO Cloud is used to manage multiple devices, receive real-time health index and AQI alerts and reporting 24/7, and see alerts and historical data to document your building’s health status and trouble areas.

Shannon cannot recommend this product enough. Not only that, they will be releasing their third generation and it just keeps getting better. For more information, reach out to your sales rep to see what HALO’s vape sensing system can do for you. For more information on our life safety integration solutions, contact us here or request a free quote here.

"The device has been extremely accurate and has helped school leadership deal with the vaping issue effectively by identifying when and where our students have been vaping. In addition, it has given our school the ability to differentiate from typical vaping to those that have THC in it." KRISTOPHER HARRISON ED.D., SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, IRVINGTON UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Conversations with Shane Gober: Fire Suppression Explained

If you’re familiar with fire sprinkler systems, then you’re familiar with the most common form of fire suppression. Rather than water, which can cause major damage to property and especially electronics, deploying more advanced fire suppression systems mean using gas, chemicals and/or foam agents to suppress the fire with no residue left behind (leaving no damage). Hear from our resident expert, Shane Gober, on the ins and outs of this life- and equipment-saving process!

Fire Suppression 101

The goal of fire suppression may seem obvious but it’s not the same as our typical fire safety spiel. If the building cannot be saved for any reason, fire suppression allows you to save the priceless people and your expensive equipment inside. If Business A owns 50 transformers at a price of $400/each, that’s $20,000 saved so all is not lost even if the building itself doesn’t survive the fire. Add up all of the other electronics and valuable assets, it’s easily in the six figures for most companies and millions for many.

How Does Fire Suppression Work?

The key to a good fire suppression system is detecting the fire straight away via heat, smoke and other warning signs. By applying a substance (gas, chemicals, foam), the fire is extinguished (smothered) before it can do catastrophic damage to your equipment, not to mention major downtime trying to replace it.

Which Industries Need Fire Suppression?

Since water doesn’t work when oil, gas and other highly combustible substances are present, fire suppression systems are necessary for any facilities where those chemicals are present. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are a great example along with power companies, oil rigs, data centers, paint booths and turbines just to name a few.

What Is Used to Suppress Chemical Fires?

Though they don’t receive a lot of press, there are numerous advanced options that have been developed and deployed since the 1980s.

3M™ NOVEC™ 1230 FIRE PROTECTION FLUID

This electrically non-conductive vapor rapidly removes heat in mere seconds to extinguish a fire before it starts. Stored as a liquid in cylinders pressurized with nitrogen and discharged as a gas, it evaporates 50 times faster than water which is how it's able to leave no residue behind.

ECARO-25

This compound of carbon, fluorine and hydrogen, ECARO-25 is stored as a liquid and discharged as a colorless, electrically non-conductive vapor. This gas does not obscure vision and no residue is left behind. It is sometimes used as an alternative to Novec™ 1230 .

FIREFIGHTING FOAM

A bladder tank and proportioner work together with a foam concentrate to produce a foam less dense than the liquid it’s built to protect when mixed with water and air. At the surface level, it separates the fuel from oxygen while working to smother (or cool) the fire while simultaneously creating a vapor barrier to prevent reignition.

INERGEN GAS (150-BAR & 200-BAR)

When smoke is detected, INERGEN gas is deployed. It mixes with air to quickly fill the room and rapidly suppress the smoke or fire. Made of nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide, it has nearly the same density as normal atmospheric air and, therefore, is safe for people and the environment.. The carbon dioxide component allows for adaptation to the reduced-oxygen environment caused once INERGEN is discharged. Oxygen is reduced just enough to suppress combustion while stimulating breathing efficiency (forcing deeper breaths and more efficient use of the oxygen that is available). People and property damage are completely avoided when this gas is deployed!

WATER MIST

Designed just like any gas suppression system, the nozzle turns liquid water into vapors as its being discharged. Water mist takes the heat out of the fire and does not damage your electrical equipment as fire sprinkler systems do. We “total flood” the room with vapor (30 seconds or less), then seal the room so that the vapors don’t leak out. In order to be effective, we let the water mist vapors work for 10 minutes so reignition is not possible. Water mist fire suppression systems are non-toxic and safe for people, too.

What is the Fan Integrity Test ?

The fan test is used in hazards to verify that the leakage in the room is not greater than the gas being put into it. The gas needs “sealed” inside the room for a minimum of 10 minutes to extinguish the fire and prevent reignition.

A fan integrity test can be used in multiple ways. First, it can be used on a new hazard when you want to verify that there isn't leakage in the room preventing extinguishment and reignition. Second, it can be used if any modifications have been made to the hazard. A fan test needs to be run for verification of leakage.

At Midwest Alarm Services, we are expanding our fire suppression team. Contact us for your design, installation, inspection and repair of our game-changing fire suppression systems.