Is your building secure? Do unauthorized personnel and visitors have access to areas of your building that should be restricted? If you answered “yes,” you need the safety net that is provided by intelligent building systems.

Elevator security systems that are integrated into intelligent building systems provide you with the ability to control entry, or access, to restricted floors within your building. There are many security breaches that are attained through insecure elevator access, but you can prevent this with elevator access systems control.

Elevator Security Systems for Commercial & Residential Buildings

Today, many commercial and residential buildings are using a card access control system in their elevators. Typically, a card scanner in the elevator allows access only to the specific floors that are embedded in the card data.  

For example, if access is denied to floor # 5 and the card holder tries to press the # 5 button on the selection panel in the elevator, that button will not register and access to that floor will be denied.

In commercial buildings, elevator security systems control access to different departments within a structure. If you are a Legal Department employee you may only be allowed access to the floor that the Legal Department is on.

You may also be allowed access to other areas such as the Cafeteria, Parking Garage, and Fitness Center, etc. Some employees, such as executives or maintenance crews, may have access to all building areas. Elevator access systems ensure that your building is not being overrun by unauthorized persons who may innocently be lost on the wrong floor, or who may have criminal intent in mind.

Intelligent building systems allow your managers to steer traffic throughout your building in a safe and effective way.

The Benefits of Elevator Security

Elevator security systems can be in effect at all times, or at specific times of the day or night. Selected floors of a commercial building may be open to the public during business hours, but restricted areas, such as the Data Center or Executive Offices, will be denied access by visitors. Some elevator security systems use a double access control system.

Once a cardholder arrives at his designated floor, he will enter that floor’s lobby. He will have to scan his card a second time on a selected door scanner that provides entry into the interior of that floor. If someone follows a cardholder into an elevator to gain access to your building, they will still not be able to enter a floor’s interior without the use of their own card unless the cardholder foolishly allows access.

Common social customs for using an elevator will have to be challenged when an elevator access system is used. Employees will have to be instructed that rules of elevator etiquette may have to be relinquished to provide building security. Holding the elevator door for someone else, or pressing a floor button for another individual using your card will be considered a breach of building security. Building security measures are not just mechanical and technical, they are also social.