Tracking Key Usage

As seen in "New Developments in Guard Tour Reporting and Employee Key Control", a SPECIAL REPORT found in Hospital Security and Safety Management, Volume 21, Number 8, December 2000.

A key control management system that is growing in popularity among a variety of users—including hotels, hospitals, and colleges and universities—is providing total accountability by security officers and other employees entrusted with keys, according to the manufacturer, Morse Watchman, Oxford, CT.

Thousands of systems, called KeyWatcher, are in use in the U.S. and 42 other countries, says Fernando Pires, the firm's vice president of sales and marketing. Each system uses color-coded "smart keys" and personal user codes to track keys, including the time they were taken or returned and the individual employee using them. Most systems are linked to the user's central computer, but information also can be downloaded to a printer. Most users of the system say that their employees are pleased with its operation and that it is making their jobs easier by saving time in accessing and returning keys.

"With growing security issues and the increasing need for audit trails, every manager is looking for key accountability to back up what their employees are doing. For this reason and because of the effectiveness and reliability of our product, the key control system that we initiated in 1994 has grown in popularity from the old systems using data pegboards and metal boxes and has allowed us to become the largest manufacturer of such systems," says Pires.

Each KeyWatcher system consists of a 13-gauge steel cabinet, a computerized box with a hinge door that can be mounted on any wall. While Morse Watchman designs and customizes systems for its various users, a standard cabinet size is 18 inches wide, 20 inches long, and seven inches deep. A standard cabinet holds 40 keys. Additional cabinets can be mounted side-by-side or top and bottom. Up to 4,000 transactions can be stored in a cabinet before needing to be downloaded. The prime component of the system is a "smart key," a heavy gauge color-coded plastic key with a computerized chip and steel ring onto which one or more user hard keys are placed. Once placed onto the ring, a key can't be removed unless it is cut off. Mag-stripe keys also can be placed onto the smart key ring by punching a hole in a corner and attaching them. However, it's important not to obstruct the mag-stripe. When placed in the appropriate slot inside the cabinet, the smart key makes the connection and recognizes when a particular user key or set of keys has been taken or returned to the cabinet.