Do You Really Need To Install High-Security Access Panels in Schools and Hospitals? Posted by Best Access Doors - Canada on 6th Feb 2024
Canada is lauded as one of the safest countries in the world, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Our status as a highly safe and secure country is one that we should relish and preserve. Healthcare and educational facilities are environments with their own rigors and challenges while hosting some of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. You would expect that they would be among our safest institutions. And yet, Canada is experiencing an increase in school violence and misbehavior in schools at all levels.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, which comprises over 86,000 members across the province, reported a staggering 77% of them had experienced a workplace violence incident. In Manitoba, biting, kicking, and verbal abuse are so prevalent that the Workplace Health and Safety Department has labeled schools as “high-risk industries.”
The healthcare system is also slowly developing into a warzone. As we are still adjusting to the post-effects of COVID-19, ER rooms are filled to the brink, and hospital staff is over-tasked and over-burdened—frustrations are boiling over. The issue was already pronounced in 2017 when 70% of surveyed hospital staff claimed that they had experienced violence on the job. The incidents ranged from physical assaults to spitting to verbal assaults.
In healthcare environments such as hospitals—where emotions are highly charged, and the tension remains on a knife edge—the added threat of violence can be too much to bear. Recent data shows that hospital incidents known as Code White calls are only on the rise. They also relate to physical assaults such as groping and unwanted touching, with incident rates increasing. How did things get to this point, and more importantly, what can we do to prevent these rates from rising?
How To Construct a Fortress
With the mental tolls of COVID lingering on, our outlook on certainty and personal safety has changed. As recent events have indicated, incidents are only on the rise, and a preemptive safety measure must be taken. Any good emergency tactical response plan should consider the five phases of emergency management. Before the response stage comes mitigation and preparedness. For architects, general contractors, and commercial professionals, these factors can be incorporated into the design and construction phases.
Canada’s last school shooting occurred as recently as last year—something that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago, while healthcare workers are simply accepting the new state of violence. Mitigation involves anticipating and covering all vulnerabilities, and easy-to-implement structural changes can go a long way toward easing the minds of staff members while maintaining access solutions.
The BAC-PHS High-Security Access Door provides the ultimate resistance, guarding against unwanted, unauthorized access. It comes in a variety of sizes, ranging from 12” x 12” to 36” x 36”—making it ideal for:
- Concealment
- Storing Sensitive Patient Information
- Storing Medications
- Exposed Utilities
- Life-Saving Personal Protective Equipment
Outfitted with a Mortise deadbolt lock, BAC-PHS comprises heavy-duty, 10-gauge steel, providing a high level of resistance to potential perpetrators. It blends in easily with a gypsum board with a durable, high-quality white powder coat primer. For further adaptations, you can paint and wallpaper over it for a barely-there, inconspicuous finish.
If you want to construct a fortress, you need highly secure materials across the board. Our schools and hospitals should be fortresses to protect the young, the vulnerable, and the people who serve them. Is an access door necessary to achieve this? Absolutely. Better still, they are substantially more cost-effective and easier to incorporate than more advanced security measures.
Staff members can operate them with ease with a simple pair of keys. In emergency situations, knowing where emergency exits or protective equipment are located goes a long way to putting the mind at ease.
The Right Solution
With personal safety in the workplace added to the list of a growing number of national concerns, construction professionals should maintain an adaptive stance.
High-security access panels offer an economical, easily incorporated solution to a variety of highly safe and highly secure applications in schools and hospitals. The BAC-PHS by Best Access Doors Canada is the right solution and an easy first step to restoring our nation to its best condition!
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