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BROUGHTON HIGH SECURITY LAUNCHES SECURITY RATED TURNSTILE

Broughton Control’s rapidly expanding High Security Division has launched a new high security turnstile, the Defender 970, aimed at customers requiring unsupervised control of pedestrian access within a site perimeter.

The Defender 970 High Security Turnstile is the latest addition to a range of products from Broughton High Security aimed at front line security locations including ports, airports, prisons, police stations and government buildings as well as high risk commercial and industrial facilities such as banks and oil refineries.

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Effective cure found for hospital parking solution headaches

Notoriously difficult sites to control, hospitals have a number of conflicting requirements when it comes to access and parking and until now, few sites have managed to meet these requirements with any degree of success.

Entrance control specialist Broughton Controls has been working with a number of health trusts to find a solution to the parking and access control problems faced by hospitals. The systems developed as a result of this joint study have now been tested and are proving not only effective but also surprisingly simple and low cost.

The first three schemes to be installed are at Southport & Formby, Tameside and Wythenshawe hospitals. Whilst all three sites faced the same basic conflicts in the provision of parking for staff and visitors as well as access for emergency vehicles and deliveries on a 24 hour basis, each site also threw up specific problems that needed to be resolved.

Wythenshawe for example was experiencing unacceptable levels of theft of and from vehicles and with nursing staff coming and going 24 hours a day, personal security was also an issue. Following the local Trust's consultations with Broughton, thefts have been eliminated and the parking areas are now safe for visitors and staff alike.

In Southport , previous parking control schemes including pay and display had proven unpopular, unreliable and costly to run. The system developed in conjunction with Broughton not only removed the cost of employing an external car park management company it now actually generates significant revenue for the hospital trust.

"It wasn't until we actually sat down with the people responsible for looking after these areas at each Trust that the solutions became evident." Explains Broughton managing director Laurence Goode. "We appreciate that hospitals are under constant scrutiny when it comes to spending on non patient care items and it is therefore essential to keep our solutions to their parking and entrance control problems as simple, efficient and cost effective as possible. We discovered that the only way to this is to work in partnership with our customers to make sure the individual peculiarities of each site are catered for rather than to try and impose a standard 'off the shelf' solution. Ultimately we have been able to produce solutions with a low set up cost and minimum disruption during installation that are able to recognise and control multiple users yet require no supervision.

Traditional pay and display schemes require constant policing and enforcement. This often requires an outside contractor and rarely returns revenue to the hospital. There is also a major issue of theft and vandalism with the pay stations. One of the solutions created by Broughton uses a token system to permit exit from the parking area. This has removed the risk of threat and vandalism to expensive paystation equipment, allows flexibility for authorised free parking and returns all revenue to the hospital concerned.

At another location, where entrance control barriers had become a constant target for vandals and those avoiding payment, we installed vehicle blockers. These have proved totally vandal resistant, highly reliable and have not only resulted in increased revenue generation but also a reduction in maintenance costs for the site.

Hospitals are unique propositions with regard to the areas we are looking at and as such require not only a provider with a broad range of experience but also one that is willing to listen and learn. Broughton has not only learned a great deal from working with these particular clients but also obtained experience that will be invaluable to providing further solutions in this sector."

Broughton Controls has been providing entrance control solutions for industry and public buildings for over 30 years. The company is ISO9001 2000 accredited for the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of all types of barriers, road blockers, turnstiles and gates and has recently provided entrance control solutions for DaimlerChrysler, Jaguar, Manchester United and the Manchester City Commonwealth Games Stadium.