A NOTE FROM ME

I wrote the following blog about control room design after another frustrating visit to a facility asking “why does my security system not work very well?” All too often I find system interfaces, monitors, computers etc. shoe horned in to rooms that should only really be used as a cupboard. Or possibly even worse, on a reception desk where nobody is tasked with or trained to operate the system. The best you are going to get from this situation is a chance notice of something untoward going on.

These systems are little more that evidence gathering machines. By this I am referring mainly to CCTV but unless you are monitoring an access control system you will not see a door held or door forced alarm.

The current thinking is to avoid banks of monitors displaying all of the CCTV images. This is partly due to space allocation and energy efficiency but mainly due to “operator blindness”. This is not a health and safety issue but psychological problem that may lead to an operator missing the glaringly obvious due to constantly looking at the same images. Si if you don’t have loads of monitors and an operator that can attentively watch each and every one of them, how do you make the system proactive? Video content analysis and PSIM go a long way to resolving these issues but the control room needs to be designed with a proactive security approach in mind so that operators have all the tools they need to receive and act on information pertaining to the security of the facility. I have seen many discussions on the pros and cons of integrating other disciplines in to the control room such as BMS, Fire etc. In principle this is a good idea if the control room is properly designed but could be a disaster if the equipment sits in the corner and the operator has other distracting duties.

It is horses for courses when it comes to control room design. If all you need is an evidence gathering machine then fine, locate it in an equipment room somewhere. If you need a fully managed and proactive system then consider the most efficient methods tailored to your needs.

My final point for this note is to consider the Data Protection Act when you have the control equipment on the reception desk!