5 Ways Turnstile Gates Enhance Public Access Safety and Security

August 1, 2019
5 Ways Turnstile Gates Enhance Public Access Safety and Security

Ensuring top-level security is a priority with every modern organization, public or private. Whether it is about managing crowds, intrusion, or forced entry into or exit from an establishment, public safety authorities are increasingly acknowledging the need for improved physical security with advanced access control technology at every entry point.

Enter turnstile gates!

Having stringent entrance control can go a long way in enhancing public access security and promoting safety. Turnstile gates have helped many public establishments such as parks, airports, railway stations, and public sector offices secure their premises for years together. Turnstile gates have, therefore, become crucial to ensuring security in public areas.

Let’s take a look at a few ways in which these gates help.

1. Heightened Security Measure

Turnstile gates offer improved security, which includes advanced access control to prevent and identify unauthorized entrants. These gates allow access to only one person at a time, imposing one-sided traffic with the help of a biometric pass, identity card or similar permits.

Because only a single person is granted access at a time, the rate of human traffic slows down, which gives security personnel ample time to spot imminent trouble and intercede, when needed.

While regular gates do offer controlled access with the help of physical and digital locks, and codes, they cannot help control the number of people who can enter at one time. This can result in tailgating, a widespread security issue where individuals try to follow illegally behind someone who is authorized to enter a particular building/area. Public spaces are highly prone to this.

Further, a regular gate cannot count the numbers of entries or exits. An unauthorized person can easily make an exit while an authorized individual enters the premises. Turnstile gates are effective in such cases as they make it impossible for more than one person to enter at a time. This makes them perfect for use at ticketed public events, for example.

2. Better Control over Security Functionalities

Turnstile gates can be embedded with several readers that identify people and authorize entry accordingly. This process alleviates human workload while saving time and costs.

The best thing about turnstile technology is that it accommodates every security need of its place of installation.

For example, if used in a public office, the gates can be synchronized to allow people to only enter in the mornings and to only exit in the evenings. This way, each and every footfall can be recorded. Further, the gates can be locked at night and during weekends/holidays, rendering the office safe and secure.

3. Assured Payment Enforcement

Turnstile gates can be especially helpful in enforcing payment at public venues, where overcrowding tends to be a common problem. Places that require buying tickets or making a payment to gain entry, such as parks, sporting arenas, and public transportation depots, will do well to use turnstile gates to ensure lawful entry through autonomous payment enforcement.

It is only when these gates scan a valid, paid-for ticket that they will unlock and permit admission to a single person at a time.

4. Effective Integration with Existing Systems

More often than not, turnstile technology easily integrates with other security systems and equipment that are already installed in an establishment. For instance, when turnstile gates are installed, they are able to use the preinstalled cameras to immediately identify individuals and make a note of the exact time that a person entered the premises.

Similarly, they can also be used in tandem with existing alarms and other security controls to ensure constant and foolproof public safety and security.

5. Adherence to ADA

The ADA “is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.”

Some types of turnstile gates, such as optical turnstiles, are ADA-compliant. They offer a passageway that’s wide enough to allow wheelchairs to pass. In other cases, security gates with ADA-recommended width can be installed along with the turnstile. Both gates can equip establishments to maintain high security, while according due respect to users with disabilities.

Conclusion

Turnstile gates serve as dependable access control devices that use one or multiple technologies to identify individuals based on their information, codes, and time to record the exact traffic. Installing such devices in high-risk public spaces is necessary to prevent human errors and avert security crises by foiling unauthorized entries/exits. In other words, turnstile gates should be installed to record the entry and exit of every individual accessing a particular public area.