Security Benefits of Key Cabinets
Friday, August 21, 2009 11:00
Do you have keys laying around your business? Does more than one person use the keys? Would it be a bad thing if they were lost or stolen? If you answered yes, you may want to look into purchasing and installing a key cabinet. Key cabinets are made from a variety of materials with most being constructed of metal. They should have tabs or hooks inside the cabinet where you can hang keys. The key cabinet should also be equipped with a lock to prevent easy access to keys especially by customers or non-employees.
Types of Key Cabinets
Most key cabinets are permanently installed in a secure location in a business, but if for some reason you are in need of moving a large amount of keys around on a regular basis, there are also portable key cabinets available. If the key cabinet is portable, though, it can be stolen along with all the keys. Portable key cabinets are not something I would recommend for most businesses.
Another option for a business that has numerous employees accessing or using the same keys is to purchase an electronic key cabinet. These are basically like single-door access control systems where you can program access codes into the key cabinet so that you can easily identify who last accessed a key or the key cabinet. Also, these type of cabinets allow you to easily remove a code so an employee who quit or was fired could not access the keys.
When to Use Key Cabinets
I have seen key cabinets used in a variety of car dealerships and vehicle service stations to secure not only their own car keys but their customers’ keys. It is never good for business if a customer’s vehicle is stolen while at your business. From my experience, I would say that key cabinets may also be of benefit to realty companies, apartment complexes, commercial office buildings and pretty much anywhere you have keys that can access units you may be renting or leasing, or anytime you have control of customer keys.
Use of Key Cabinets
The placement of a key cabinet is also very important. If you look at the picture closely (I know it is not my best picture), you will see on the left side of the picture on the front rail of the porch, a board that is holding the dealership’s keys to all the vehicles on the lot. As you can also see, it is unattended.
I have gone to many dealerships where customers or someone pretending to be a customer takes keys and comes back later to steal the vehicle. This is especially easy nowadays with most vehicles having the electronic door locks. When you press the key remote, you can determine which vehicle it goes to by listening for the door lock, hearing a beep from the vehicle, or seeing the lights flash when the remote is used to unlock the vehicle’s door lock. This same story has been told to me numerous times over the years, and it usually always come down to not securing the keys in a key cabinet or placing a key cabinet where it can be easily accessible to customers or other non-employees that are at your place of business. Lastly, make sure that the key cabinet is locked when no one is around to supervise the key cabinet. This is very important even if you put the key cabinet in an employee’s office. If they are not there, there is nothing to prevent someone from walking in the office and taking a key.
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