Tracking Visitors and Contractors in Your Facility

A Real-Time Visitor Management System

When most people think about the security of their site, they think about perimeter security. No one can get into your site without authorization, right? But, what if the bad guys are already in your facility? The easiest way for bad actors to gain entry is if they’ve already been given access to the facility in question. Once the perimeter is broken how are you securing your facility?

CYBRA’s Edgefinity IoT® is a full-time security guard following all of your visitors and contractors in real-time. Most contractors have designated areas for them to be in, and are not allowed in the rest of the facility. With Edgefinity IoT you simply setup the permitted zones for them to be allowed access and hand them an active RFID Badge.

Edgefinity IoT’s visitor management capabilities all you to track the position of the badge within around one foot accuracy. If the contractor steps outside of the permitted areas, Edgefinity IoT will automatically send an alert to the security team indicating a violation. Alerts are sent via email, SMS message, voice call, etc. The system can also trigger strobe lights or sirens in cases of highly sensitive areas.

In the case of visitors, an escort is normally required. But, in practice, this is very hard and costly to implement. Working with people over long periods of time leads to greater trust that may not be warranted. I’ve seen this problem myself during visits with security managers. I have occasionally been left alone in restricted areas due to my host being distracted.

This proves to me that even the people with the highest security concerns can have lapses of attention. With the Edgefinity IoT platform installed, every visitor will be issued a badge. That badge is then keyed to one or more escorts. If the visitor moves farther then a user defined number of feet away from the escort, security will be notified. This does not have to be throughout the entire facility. The restricted areas can be setup and permitted areas can be added. Examples of permitted areas might be interior bathrooms, and conference rooms. A visitor can be by themselves, but the moment they exit the zone, the escort is then required.

With CYBRA’s Edgefinity IoT visitor management system, every person, including your visitors and contractors, become security monitors. Each badge has a built-in panic button that can be discreetly pressed. By doing so, a signal is transmitted sending the tag’s location and the fact that help is needed directly to the security team. With this, if anyone sees a security breach, workplace violence incident or some other issue of concern, Edgefinity IoT can quickly escalate the alert to someone responsible to handle the alert.

This is also asserted during health emergencies. If a contractor or employee is alone they can press the button signaling they need help. If the individual is incapacitated. Edgefinity IoT can sense the lack of movement, and dispatch first responders.

A common concern is how Edgefinity IoT can track a bad actor if they can simply remove their badge. Edgefinity IoT’s badges are constantly sensing motion, even  minor motions of someone sitting in a chair breathing. Once the badge is removed it will detect that it is motionless and trigger an alert to the security team. The system will send an alert with the position of the tag. Although in this instance Edgefinity IoT will no longer be able to continue tracking the person, but your security team will know that an incident has occurred and needs to be followed up.

Edgefinity IoT’s visitor management capabilities add a new level of visibility to safety teams to ensure visits from contractors and guests go as planned.