security measures

• Why should we have security measures?

  In health and social care settings, security measures are put in place to protect service providers and service users and keep them safe.
• Security measures can protect against:

  • strangers entering into settings
  • visitors/service users entering into unauthorised areas
  • service users injuring themselves
  • thefts and damage to property.
• What are security measures?

  An important aspect of maintaining the safety of a care setting is keeping it secure from strangers and intruders entering the building.

  • Security measures also prevent service users leaving the care setting - for example, toddlers and children from a nursery or individuals with dementia leaving a residential home.
• Security measures in health and social care settings include:

  • Identifying staff who work at the setting or who are visiting
  • Monitoring of keys
  • Receiving and monitoring visitors to the setting
  • Reporting of concerns to line managers
  • Restricting access to external doors
  • Ensuring windows are locked, with restraints
• Identifying staff

  • ID (identity) lanyards confirm who the staff member is by including their photo, name and who they work for.
  • Staff uniform confirms the organisation that the staff member works for. Some staff uniforms are colour coded to indicate the staff member’s job role, i.e. care worker, senior care worker. Both ID lanyards and staff uniforms protect service users by not letting in unknown people who may claim they are staff when they are not.
• Monitoring of keys

  • Limits number of people with access to keys – care settings limit those who have keys, for example to a service user’s front door, room or a medicine cupboard, to protect against the keys getting lost or misplaced and then falling into the wrong hands.
  • List of keyholders/knowing who has the keys – care settings have an agreed keyholder list in place. This reassures individuals that the only staff who have keys are those who have the authority to and who need to, e.g. to a filing cabinet where records are kept.
• Receiving and monitoring visitors

  • Staff on duty at entrance monitor access – this helps care settings to ensure that only those visitors who have been authorised and who have an agreed appointment can enter. It protects service users and others from unwanted/fraudulent visitors.
  • Issuing visitor badges – this helps staff and individuals to identify easily who is a visitor and reassures them that they are a genuine visitor. Visitor badges have the visitor’s name on.
• Receiving and monitoring visitors

  • Signing in and out book for visitors, to know who is there and who has left – care settings have this procedure in place for visitors to ensure that they are aware at all times which visitors are in the building. This includes the visitor’s name, the date and purpose of their visit and who they’re coming to see.
  • This is important to know in case there is an emergency such as a fire or evacuation so that everyone can be accounted for.
  • This is also important in the event of a visitor becoming unwell so that help can be accessed as soon as possible.
• Reporting of concerns to line managers

  • Appropriate action can be taken by senior staff – it is important to report security concerns immediately so that these can be addressed.
  • Security concerns that may arise include:
  • Seeing a person walking through the care setting who you don’t recognise.
  • The photo on a ID lanyard or visitor’s badge not looking like the person wearing it.
• Immediate concerns

  • an unidentified person entering a restricted area in a hospital eg a maternity ward
  • a service user becoming violent
  • a parent who is not allowed access to their child, forcing their way into a residential home where the child is staying
• Less immediate concerns

  • a member of staff consistently forgets to wear their ID badge
  • the staff member at the entrance forgets to ask visitors to sign out when they leave the setting
• External doors, restricting access

  • Electronic swipe card entry system – this security measure requires staff identity passes to be used for access.
  • Buzzer entry system – this security measure enables the person inside the premises to decide whether to let the visitor at the door enter. The person can speak to them to find out who they are
  • Security pad with pin code – this security measure requires a code instead of keys. Only a list of authorised people will know the code to ensure intruders do not enter.
• Window locks and restraints

  Window locks and restraints keep vulnerable service users safe by, for example:

  • preventing a service user with learning disabilities falling out of an open window because their understanding of danger is limited and they do not understand the risks
  • preventing a service user with mental health needs jumping from an open window because they are in distress
  • preventing strangers/intruders from entering through an open, unlocked window.