Abloy UK has supplied South Staffs Water (SSW) with bespoke electromechanical security for 91 of its operational sites.
SSW supplies drinking water to 1.3m people and 35,000 commercial customers over 1,500 square km in the West Midlands, South Staffordshire, South Derbyshire, North Warwickshire and North Worcestershire areas. The SSW clean water sites include treatment works, reservoirs, pumping stations, boosters, and water towers.
The installation of the PROTEC2 CLIQ system, by Lincoln Security, comprised of 600 padlocks, 392 cylinders, 200 user keys and four desktop programmers. Some ten wall programming devices were placed at offices and depots across the utility’s geographical area to allow key holders to re-validate when required.
The locks are now operational, securing and maintaining the safety of equipment – such as pumps and telemetry units – operational apparatus, chemicals, and potable water within reservoirs. There is also scope for the system to be expanded to meet other security and site access requirements, as they are needed.
Abloy says that its PROTEC2 CLIQ cylinder was chosen because it is specially designed to provide security for the most sensitive areas; it offers a patented disc controller structure that requires a moving element in the key. PROTEC2 CLIQ also possesses key and key blank patent protection to prevent systems from becoming compromised by the unauthorised duplication of keys. The patent, which lasts until 2031, is one of the longest in the industry and covers the range. Different products can be keyed into the same master key, meaning all products can be operated with a single key. There are 1.97 billion key combinations.
Kate Wilkes, Resilience and Security Manager at South Staffs Water, said: “We chose the Abloy PROTEC2 CLIQ system because of the versatility and flexibility it offers – our employees can use just one key for every site they need to gain access to. Individuals that only need to access certain assets can have a particular level of key and other employees can have a higher level where required.”
And Rob Bennett, Senior Market Development Manager at Abloy, added: “There are a number of specific requirements when securing water sites, and it can be difficult to maintain access to all areas without the risk of keys being lost and a system becoming compromised. A web-managed, patent protected master-key system that combines electronic access control with the strength of Abloy’s mechanical locks is the ideal solution, as it reduces the number of keys carried by individual employees or contractors, offering a convenient and flexible high security provision.”
The system will progress into Cambridge Water – which is owned by SSW – with roll-out at those operational sites from April 2017.
