Strategic methods to overcome Tailgating

Tailgating (also called piggybacking) is one of the most common security breaches affecting businesses today. It is a physical security breach in which an authorized individual is followed by an unauthorized person to enter a secured premise. It can occur in any building putting a risk on company assets and employees. No levels of biometric security can help if employees hold the door for an unauthorized person behind them out of misguided courtesy. Tailgating gives rise to a potential for crime to be done by someone who you didn’t even know was in your building.
For example, let us take up a situation which is common in all offices. A colleague struggles to carry a stack of folders, so the door is held open for them. However, this opens up an opportunity for someone else to follow through the doorway into a secure area. The helpful colleague may have unintentionally put a risk to company assets and staff safety.
In a hurry or late for a meeting, a colleague quickly scans his ID at the access control point and rushes through the door without pulling the door closed behind him. Seeing an opportunity, an unauthorized user catches the door before it closes and walks through. He now has access to a secure area of the premises.
A more alarming situation may occur when an individual uses force to enter a secure area. A typical access control device can prove ineffective when an authorized user is forced to allow access to an unauthorized person. Consider laboratory, pharmacy, equipment room or data center. You may want to restrict and track who can access valuable equipment, sensitive files or toxic chemicals in and out of these premises.
If the headcount of building occupants is taken during an emergency, it can lead to occupants unknowingly left behind or emergency workforce needlessly searching for people who were never on the building.
The issue with these inattentive situations is that they open your building to undocumented and unauthorized entry by people who could mean harm to your property or occupants. Anti-tailgating strategies ensure only the people who are meant to be in your building are allowed access. So the approved users go in and unauthorized people are blocked.
Even though the key to anti-tailgating strategy is multiple levels of security techniques, below are some of the ways explaining how we can strategically overcome the problem of tailgating -

• Enable remote facial recognition using camera analytics.
• Laser/Radar sensorsto detect multiple people.
• Installation of Turnstiles (both waist-height and full-height) at major access control points. It serves as a physical barrier and is good for high-volume traffic. This will be able to address tailgating by closing after each person who walks through the barrier. Some models will sound an alarm when tailgating occurs, which will in turn alert nearby guard staff to respond.

Visit www.esslsecurity.com/contactus for more details about the range of pedestrian solutions we provide. We are India's leading brand for time attendance and access control systems.