What are Partitions in Commercial Alarm Systems?

In com­mer­cial alarm sys­tems, you can use par­ti­tions to sep­a­rate areas of a build­ing that have dif­fer­ent lev­els of secu­ri­ty or access restric­tions. While the same alarm sys­tem pro­tects each par­ti­tion, the par­ti­tions divide the space into inde­pen­dent zones for greater secu­ri­ty and safe­ty.

But what exact­ly are the ben­e­fits of secu­ri­ty par­ti­tions, and how are they used in var­i­ous com­mer­cial set­tings?

Here’s what you need to know.

Solving a common security challenge

A basic alarm sys­tem con­fig­u­ra­tion includes a con­trol pan­el and sen­sors, such as door/window con­tacts and motion detec­tors. If a door is opened while the sys­tem is armed, it trig­gers the alarm unless some­one dis­arms it with a secu­ri­ty code or oth­er autho­riza­tion method, such as a smart­phone. The alarm sig­nal can also be trans­mit­ted to an alarm mon­i­tor­ing cen­tre, where per­son­nel can dis­patch police or oth­er respon­ders.

But what if the busi­ness has sec­ondary areas that should not be acces­si­ble to all employ­ees?

For exam­ple, maybe the com­pa­ny has an office con­nect­ed to a ware­house, but for secu­ri­ty rea­sons, very few employ­ees should have access to both areas.

Employ­ees may already have their access codes to enter the build­ing. But how do you pre­vent indi­vid­u­als from enter­ing oth­er restrict­ed areas with­out the need for com­pli­cat­ed key man­age­ment? Even with keys, how do you con­trol access dur­ing off-work hours when no one should enter the build­ing?

This is where secu­ri­ty par­ti­tions pro­vide a sim­ple and effec­tive solu­tion.

How security partitions work

Par­ti­tions allow busi­ness­es to sep­a­rate essen­tial areas of a build­ing. Each area has secu­ri­ty require­ments, ensur­ing only autho­rized employ­ees can enter the space.

In the exam­ple of the office/warehouse above,  you can divide the build­ing into two or more par­ti­tioned areas. Each area would have its secu­ri­ty con­trol pan­el or access device. Office employ­ees would have access to the office. Ware­house employ­ees would have access to the ware­house. Employ­ees who need access to both areas would have unique codes for each site (or use oth­er devices for autho­riza­tion, such as key fobs, key cards or an app on their mobile phone).

The more partitions, the greater the security.

Not every busi­ness needs mul­ti­ple par­ti­tions. But for com­mer­cial set­tings where safe­ty and secu­ri­ty are top pri­or­i­ties, par­ti­tions are essen­tial.

Why do they mat­ter?

In com­put­ing, a well-known secu­ri­ty prin­ci­ple is known as the “Rule of Least Priv­i­lege.” The idea is that users’ access should be lim­it­ed to only the files, fold­ers and sys­tems they need for their day-to-day job. This dras­ti­cal­ly reduces the risk of an unmit­i­gat­ed secu­ri­ty breach.

One can apply the same rule to phys­i­cal secu­ri­ty in com­mer­cial envi­ron­ments.

You can use par­ti­tions to secure numer­ous sen­si­tive (or dan­ger­ous) areas, includ­ing indus­tri­al areas, IT/server rooms, chem­i­cal stor­age rooms, crit­i­cal file stor­age, util­i­ty areas, etc.

Request a no-obligation security consultation.

There are sev­er­al ways to add a par­ti­tioned secu­ri­ty sys­tem to your build­ing. At PROTECTION PLUS, we offer a vari­ety of access con­trol solu­tions and busi­ness secu­ri­ty sys­tems that enable you to secure vir­tu­al­ly any area of your busi­ness. Con­tact us today for a no-oblig­a­tion secu­ri­ty con­sul­ta­tion. Our experts will help you iden­ti­fy the right solu­tion for your needs.