The Client:
KCS Projects were hired by a children’s nursery to improve their internal security. The nursery is set over three floors of the building, with three rooms per level for each age range of children.
The Brief:
The front door was already monitored and secured using access control, but once a visitor had passed through the entrance, they would have been able to navigate the building unsupervised.
Furthermore, the existing audio intercom was linked only to one phone located in the main office, which meant that classrooms were unaware when a visitor had arrived to pick up or drop off a child.
These factors posed several safeguarding issues and inefficiencies during pick-up and drop-off times, which needed to be resolved for the safety of the children and the overall management of the nursery.
Our Work:
In order to overcome the safeguarding and management challenges posed by the current setup, we installed a video intercom at the main entrance, to include a video phone in each classroom and in the main office.
This allowed visitors to the nursery to directly call their child's classroom for pick-ups or drop-offs, and enabled childcare staff to accurately identify who was collecting each child - and when - before granting visitors entry to the site.
The intercom unit that we fitted at the main entrance door included an integrated proximity reader, to allow staff access to the site using their ID cards.
We also installed magnetic locks and proximity readers in all the doors in main corridors, stairwells, classrooms, and offices. This meant that if an individual without a staff ID card was to gain access to the building, their movements would be limited to communal spaces.
In addition, personnel would be required to present an ID card to access sensitive areas of the building, thereby keeping the children safe from unauthorised visitors.
Alongside these measures, we also set up the PC in the main office to monitor activity on the system – like for example, seeing which staff member used which door at what time, while an alarm was set up to alert staff members if a door was left open.
Using this PC, staff would also be able to create new ID cards and change settings on the system.
The Outcome:
By introducing video intercoms at the main entrance, a video phone for each classroom, magnetic locks, proximity readers, and monitoring via PC, we were able to effectively enhance the security setup at the nursery to prevent unauthorised personnel from gaining access to the site and navigating through it.
These measures enabled the nursery to run more safely, as staff were able to easily identify who was picking up each child and at what time, while they also had a record of who accessed which area of the site and when.
This data was easily accessible via the PC, which would enable the nursery to relay this information to the authorities in an emergency - such as a fire or a child abduction, for example.
These measures also enabled the nursery to run more efficiently by improving communication between different areas of the site, which added extra security in the event of an emergency.
We worked under the supervision of the nursery at all times, and complied with the health and safety legislation relevant to childcare. In addition, all our staff members received a full DBS check prior to commencing works on the site, and all works on the nursery were carefully planned with adherence to child safeguarding protocols.
Overall, our measures helped to introduce a more effective setup for protecting the welfare of the children at the nursery, and for promoting safe and efficient work practices.
Want to improve the safety and security setup of your building? Get in touch!