A large construction site in Shetland is using a fingerprint scanning system to manage site security.
Morrison Construction is building the New Anderson High School and Halls of Residence development at Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. To provide a level of security for the site it turned to Shetland Facilities Management (SFM) Security to provided a robust access control system utilising the very latest state-of-the-art fingerprint biometric recognition devices.
As main contractor for the £56m project, Morrison’s brief for SFM was for an integrated access control system during construction which could give an accurate count of the workforce in each of the site’s two zones, split by company and trade discipline, for not only HSSE requirements but also emergency response, robust time and attendance recording and to capture the data and metrics required for project controls.
Fingerprint readers
SFM’s solution was an integrated platform that combined biometric fingerprint readers from ievo Ltd, the Newcastle-based manufacturer of biometric recognition systems, with a Paxton Net2 access control system.
Eight ievo fingerprint readers were installed on four entry turnstiles together with an ievo desktop enrolment reader for initial registering employee fingerprint templates in the site control room. SFM installed the equipment in two 20ft ISO container security portals (one for each zone of the project) which provided efficient through-put and foot-fall at peak and off-peak times.
Simon Orchard, Director of Security, Shetland Facilities Management, commented, “Logistical issues with using SMART cards alongside a large workforce we always found problematic. Using ievo’s biometric solution allows us to save costs whilst also improving efficiency. ievo devices are easy to install, robust, operational in harsh climates and working conditions and surpass all our operational needs. ievo provided the perfect biometric security solution and we are already planning on using them for our next project.”
Shaun Oakes, Managing Director of ievo Ltd, added, “ievo systems are designed for harsh environmental use, such as construction sites. It was vital that the fingerprint system would maintain operational regardless of the weather conditions or the amount of users enrolled. Being able to provide a system that can help identify and manage a large workforce is what ievo is designed for. The installation of the solution has now bedded in very effectively and Morrison Construction Limited staff liked the ease of use for both enrolment of fingerprints, and generating accurate and reliable reports.”
