Door Access Control

All primary building doors should be secured with controlled access locks. Secondary doors can be used as Exit-Only, with releases that can only be accessed from the inside.

These secondary doors can also be marked as Emergency-Exit-Only and to minimize all but emergency use, an Alarm System can sound local and/or central alarms upon door opening. This alarm can remain sounding until authorized personnel disable the alarm. The Access Control System can also sound alarms or buzzers when doors are propped open to minimize the opportunity for unauthorized entry.

Door Access Control Devices

Electro-Mechanical Door Strikes can be used with traditional door lock hardware to allow a door to open even though the handle has not been turned. This is because the door strike that the lock latches into can swing outward to release the latch. These strikes have the advantage of being able to work with existing door hardware. However, this is often a significant disadvantage because keys can easily be copied and the important benefit is lost of recording All access grants. 

Many door latches can be opened with a simple credit card. Even those latches that have a secondary pin to prevent this can be defeated by a determined person. Cover plates can be used to deter this kind of activity, but these can be defeated and even the locks themselves can be picked. One solution to these problems is to pair the Electromechanical Strike with a non-retractable bolt. Thus, Electromechanical Strikes are often not as secure as Magnetic Locks and are best used on interior doors.

Magnetic Locks are very strong magnets that hold the top of a door closed until  the access control system allows them to be released. Mag Locks do not have many of the disadvantages that Electro-Mechanical Door Strikes can.

Exit Request Buttons are provided to allow users to release the access control locks from the interior as they are exiting. These exit request buttons are almost always required by fire codes to allow unrestricted exit from the building in the event of an emergency.

Exit Motion Detectors automatically release a door upon the approach of a person. These Exit Detectors provide easier operation of the door-release mechanism and insure unrestricted exit in the event of an emergency. However, Exit Motions can also inadvertently unlock a door when an employee simply walk past. Because of this, the local Fire Marshal or Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) can often waive this requirement upon request.

Crash Bar Releases are used to operate the release system from a bar directly on the door, thus simplifying exit operation in the event of an emergency. Although somewhat more expensive and Exit Buttons, Crash Bars can prevent the need for an Exit Motion Detector.