Access Control Door Hardware

The three types of access control hardware are discretionary access control (DAC), managed access control (MAC), and role-based access control (RBAC). DAC gives the business owner or manager the ability to dictate access rights over every employee or user. This is common in smaller businesses or low-scale operations that don’t require a dedicated high-level employee to oversee business security. MAC gives one person, such as a chief security officer or similar position, the ability to designate and enforce access permissions across the entire organization on a case-by-case basis. This is common in operations when a high level of security and confidentiality is required to compartmentalize knowledge or building access. RBAC is common among large businesses that want to restrict access based on the role of an employee or outside person. These roles are usually decided by a systems administrator. For example, a lower-level employee will have basic access to areas they need to complete their job while a higher-level executive will have near unlimited access across the building.

The best type of access control depends on your needs as a company. Different companies will benefit more from one type of access control over another. Identify your business’s personal needs and find the corresponding type of access control from above.

Fail-safe locking systems will unlock doors in the event of a power outage. Fail-secure access control systems will lock the latch in the strike during a power outage. Fail-secure locks are great at keeping areas with sensitive information secure in the event of a power outage but can cause safety concerns in other areas. Fail-secure locks can be a hindrance to egress in an emergency if used on emergency doors or in fire escape stairwells.

An electronic lock, also known as an electric strike, is typically fail-secure. They require power to unlock the door and in the event of an outage will keep the door securely locked until powered again. Magnetic locks, or maglocks, are generally fail-safe. Without power, the electromagnetic lock will not keep the latch locked in the strike and the door will be freely unlocked until power is returned to the device.