Hospital Security: Perimeter Security is the First Line of Defense

When it comes to hardening security, hospitals have a particularly tough balance to strike. It’s a double-edged sword, because, on the one hand, they’re literally open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are required to be accessible to the public at all times. But, on the other hand, hospitals are vulnerable to a vast number of security threats which often require a multi-layered security strategy. For hospitals, in particular, access control in parking garages and parking lots is often the first line of defense to take; perimeter security outside the walls can play a big part in managing those who come inside.

License plate recognition (LPR) technology, designed to restrict and segregate vehicles entering a parking lot, provide valuable information as to the identity of vehicles entering the facility. LPR solutions provide dual benefits to a hospital.

Implementing access control technology in a hospital parking lot or garage makes it more difficult for unauthorized parties to access the facility because they’ll be stopped while still inside their vehicle and the authorities will be alerted when blacklisted cars are identified as entering.  LPR also safeguards that doctors and other emergency personnel can gain quick and unhampered access to the hospital, as license plate recognition technology allows only authorized vehicles access to their designated parking spots or garages via barriers. These barriers can be easily connected to either an electric switch contained inside a license plate recognition camera or a separate controller that activates the barrier in the same way that doors are controlled for buildings. License plate recognition software can be programmed with “blast lists of suspicious plates” which will then send a notification to a designated authority.

An ideal solution that integrators can implement is ZKTeco’s SmartLPR® Access state-of-the art license plate recognition (LPR) camera, designed to improve security for parking facilities while providing far greater safety and convenience for drivers. The SmartLPR® Access camera can operate completely stand-alone. With a powerful built-in OCR engine and relay contact, the LPR camera is weatherproof and can be connected directly to the parking facility gate/barrier without the need for a separate controller or software. SmartLPR® Access is ultra-affordable and cost-effective, sets up quickly and easily, and comes with built-in I/O, TCP/IP and Wiegand ports. It also features a built-in Web server for remote access and facilitates remote lens focus and zoom adjustment and setting configuration. SmartLPR® Access is very user-friendly and is equipped with auto-synchronize settings for multi-camera installations and Plug & Play connectors to open the camera’s housing. Its OCR engine recognizes plates from all over the world and provides Black-listed plate notification.

While perimeter security is the first layer of defense for enhancing hospital security, it certainly is not the last. In our remaining October blog series, we will take a deep dive into the various other layers of security that hospitals can implement to harden their facilities. Among them, visitor and authentication management systems to ensure only authorized visitors are permitted to enter the hospital; facial recognition technology to provide better safeguarding against the vulnerabilities of traditional metal “lock and key” and card access systems; metal detectors which prevent concealed metal objects and weapons from entering the hospital; and turnstiles, which prevent unauthorized personnel from piggybacking into the hospital.