4 good reasons why you need perimeter protection

We are in a very unusual position here at Zicam. It’s something we’re very proud of and something we absolutely know will benefit our customers. We have just launched our in-house perimeter protection division with a dedicated team of specialist engineers who have years of experience with the installation and maintenance of gates, barriers, and turnstiles at business premises up and down the UK.

Why is this service unusual? It’s virtually unheard of in the security and surveillance industry to have it in-house. When we look at integrated security systems, a design and installation company will have a dedicated team for CCTV, access control, intruder, and fire safety systems, but will outsource the perimeter protection aspect of the system to a sub-contractor. Let’s look at what perimeter protection is, why you need it, and what the benefit of having an in-house division is.

By the way – meet Bradley Ellis and Adam Vine, our lead specialist Gate Automation Engineers. They’ll be blogging about perimeter security over the next few months.

What is perimeter protection?

Perimeter protection is a whole category of its own and includes some surprising technology. It is the security your business needs to prevent unauthorised access by vehicles or pedestrians…and it’s not quite as simple as just installing a fence. When we say ‘gates and barriers’ we also include:

• Automatic traffic barriers
• Rising bollards
• Rising kerbs
• Turnstiles
• Automatic or manual pedestrian gates
• Automatic cantilever gates
• Automatic sliding gates
• Bi fold gates
• Internal speed gates
• Swing gates
• Height restrictors

Most of these barriers are crash rated, which means they have been tested to a standard that is guaranteed to withstand vehicle attacks to protect premises, people, and facilities from collateral damage caused by crime or terrorist related attacks. And here are four good reasons why your business needs this technology.

1.      First line of defence

Perimeter protection is the first line of defence when protecting your premises from malicious attack. A combination of technologies such as automatic traffic barriers, rising bollards and kerbs, automatic sliding gates, and turnstiles, can provide the ultimate protection for your site’s most vulnerable points.

2.      Visual deterrent

It’s an effective deterrent to potential attack. When installed in conjunction with other security measures, like CCTV and access control, the right gates and barriers create a strong visual deterrent for unauthorised people or vehicles attempting to access your site.

3.      Protection technology

There’s some clever technology involved to prevent unauthorised access. Air locks can be set between gates to prevent tailgating, these are really effective for high security sites like data centres or military bases and provide 100% control over anyone entering the site. Equally, for pedestrian access we can incorporate anti-pass back technology to stop one person passing an access card back for someone else to use. Once the card has been swiped at a particular turnstile it’s disabled for use for a number of minutes.

4.      Size doesn’t matter

If your business is located on a smaller site, you can still protect its perimeter by adding something simpler like a traffic barrier or bollard. For sports stadiums, or multi-building distribution centres we would design a system that used multiple barriers for protection on a large scale.

What’s the benefit of and in-house team?

As mentioned earlier, the perimeter protection of a security system is usually outsourced, which means you have two companies each responsible for the closely linked barrier or gate and their access control. Very often, if a gate is fixed in the open position and won’t close, it will look like it’s the gate that’s broken when it could also be the access control that’s faulty. This means you have two companies to phone, two call outs to see which technology has failed, and often two call out fees and quite a wait. In-house saves you time and money.

In-house also means that you have the option for the installation of your perimeter protection and its service and maintenance to be done by one company. You also have one, easy-to-reach point of contact who will get to know you and your site well, so you get the best service.

If you’re interested in finding out more about perimeter protection for your site or would like to talk to Bradley or Adam specifically, call us today.

Dave Salisbury, Managing Director, Zicam Integrated Security Limited.

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