Every day, millions of Americans leave the safety of their homes and go to your facility for work. Emergencies in the workplace are uncommon, but when an emergency arises, your employees expect you to have solid emergency procedures in place.
The fact is, most workplaces do have some emergency response and access control system in place. Depending on the size of your company, you may have an informal plan posted around the office, or you may have a fully automated system in place.
When it comes to keeping your employees safe, every facility should have a well-documented process. The advancements in RFID technology are providing businesses with scalable safety measures that are being used to aid in emergencies, evacuation, and mustering.
Emergency Situations
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that all companies have one emergency warden for every 20 employees. These wardens are responsible for sweeping a building during an evacuation and are the last person to leave when there’s an emergency. This person is also responsible for making sure employees meet at the mustering (or safe zone) area.
Even with a designated warden, many challenges can result from an evacuation where RFID technology can fill the gaps. For example, an employee may be out of the office or in another part of the building, and there could be a number of visitors and contractors in your facility when an emergency arises.
RFID mustering technology takes the guesswork out of the evacuation management process, and it’s pretty simple to explain. First, all of your employees would have an employee ID badge with RFID technology. Your facility would have RFID readers placed in and around your facility, which would be hooked up to software. If an emergency or evacuation occurs, the system can be used to determine in real-time how many employees evacuated, and how many remain inside your building.
Access Control
Do you know who is entering and exiting your building? Not only do access control systems aid in the emergency management and mustering process, but it also helps protect your facility from unauthorized access.
Take a minute to think about your facility. Are there certain places that should be restricted to employees, such as data rooms or administrative areas? Does your facility contain hazardous materials such as chemicals or machinery that should be off-limits to unauthorized people? Does your facility have any gates or doors that are unsecured?
Access control technology provides layered protection, which means you have full control of your facility. You can fully customize access to individual rooms, employees, time of day access, and much more. Plus, access control data is logged in the event you need to see who accessed a specific part of your facility.
A note about RFID mustering technology and privacy
One of the benefits of RFID technology is that employees would have to be onsite in range of an RFID antenna. Often, there’s a misunderstanding that RFID can track people where they go. RFID tags are not GPS trackers; they are small tags that simply transmit information when a reader is present. When employees are not at the workplace, their RFID tags are inactive, meaning there is no way to track or monitor employees when they’re away from work.
Looking to implement a customized RFID mustering solution in your organization? Let us know by using the form below.
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/evacuation/checklists/eap.html