In this featured piece by OHS Canada, Terry Swanson, president and CEO of Singlewire Software, explains how visitor management systems can play a key role in preventing workplace violence by stopping potential threats before they gain access to a building. He describes how these systems verify guest identities through facial recognition and ID scanning, screening visitors against national databases, watchlists, and custom banned-visitor lists that can include disgruntled former employees or other flagged individuals. Swanson explains that integrating visitor management with incident management and mass notification tools expands alerting capabilities beyond a single front-desk employee, automatically notifying security teams and other officials when an issue arises. He also highlights how digital drill management tools help organizations centralize safety training and preparation across multiple buildings.
Key Takeaways
- Terry Swanson, president and CEO of Singlewire Software, writes that visitor management systems can verify guest identities through facial recognition and ID scanning before checking them against national databases, watchlists, and custom banned-visitor lists.
- Integrating visitor management with incident management and mass notification tools automatically alerts security teams and workplace officials when a flagged individual attempts to check in.
- Text, audio, and visual alerts can reach desk phones, computers, digital signage, speakers, strobes, and mobile devices simultaneously to emphasize the urgency of a situation.
- Notifications can be targeted to specific building areas or groups, such as security or leadership, helping ensure the right message reaches the right people.
- Some visitor management tools include digital drill management features that let organizations schedule, assign, and conduct safety drills, automatically creating digital records for review across multiple buildings.
Original Story
At any organization, creating a safe work environment needs to be a top priority. Workplace violence can happen at any time, so organizations need to be prepared to identify potential threats and intervene before issues escalate.
When workers are threatened, so are operations, so the more precautions and responsive measures an organization can take, the more they can minimize the impact of violent events. This is often easier said than done, but with the right tools in place, organizations can begin to mitigate and in some cases prevent workplace violence.