A case study of key management at Twickenham Stadium. The west London rugby union home, is undergoing development, ready for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Part of that refurbishment work will include access control and locking. Previously, Twickenham relied on a paper-based system to sign keys in and out, but this resulted in complications, with staff unable to locate keys easily. It also had cost implications, with several master keys having to be replaced over the years. But the most serious consequence was the safety and security of the building. Due to lost keys, staff were duplicating them, making it hard to identify who had keys to which area.
The seven manually-operated key boxes spread across the grounds have now been replaced with two L-Series products from manufacturer Traka. The product allows automatic tracking of who has taken which key, and when it has been returned. The software allows security staff to grant access rights to users to a key or keyset, so even though they may be able to access the key cabinet, they can only remove the keys to areas they are authorised to be in.
The key cabinets are also used by the other businesses based at the stadium. Catering and hospitality can request access to keys for staff members. This means that RFU’s partners have access to areas they need, whilst still maintaining visibility for the RFU on who is accessing what area.
Phil Parker, Head of Security at RFU said: “Traka systems are invaluable to a premise like Twickenham Stadium. With so many businesses, people and areas to oversee, having visibility of where keys are and who has used them makes individuals accountable. This in turn makes everyone more responsible. However, it is the ability to restrict access to areas that is really important. There are lots of business-critical areas within the building, for instance areas with high voltage power supplies. Being able to restrict access to a very small number of people electronically, means we can remove the risk of human error, so an unauthorised person cannot enter a dangerous area.
“The whole security team is really impressed with the system, they can see first hand how Traka can be utilised, and how it is helping us centrally manage the distribution of our keys. Our role is to keep the home of English rugby safe, and The L-Series is helping us do that.”
Alexander Scott, Vertical Solutions Sepcialist at Traka said: “Twickenham Stadium was an ideal venue for the Traka L-Series. When it comes to key management you need to be able to balance three factors: flexibility, security and accountability. Flexibility is important, as you want staff to be able to access the keys they need quickly and easily. Security is important, as you need to ensure that keys to sensitive areas are not getting into the wrong hands. Accountability ensures that you can see who is taking the keys and when they are returning them, this significantly reduces lost and unreturned keys, as there is now an electronic trail, tracking the use of the keys.”
About the L-Series, Traka
The L-Series can manage between ten to 180 keys or keysets and can control who can access, take and return keys. It can also restrict access to an organisation’s most important keys for vehicles, equipment and secure areas. The system ensures keys are available 24/7, but restricted to authorised users only. Users are able to monitor key usage and produce audit reports showing usage by date, time and user, as well as other useful management information. The L-Series helps to enforce H&S compliance by controlling who can gain access to equipment and machinery.
Traka cabinets are fitted as standard with a key pad for users to gain entry by individual PIN code and can also be provided with any access control reader, such as RFID proximity, magnetic strip/barcode swipe or biometrics, including finger print and hand scanners.
Traka is an ASSA ABLOY Group brand.
