Backset Fail

I pulled all the photos off the 1 GB card inside my cell phone. I take numerous pictures and found this old gem. Somebody had installed a Weiser Powerbolt but had missed the step of changing the backset for the bolt. Since the bolt was 3/8 inch too short installed in this door so had set the face of the bolt into the edge of the door by 3/8 of an inch.

Seeing this old photo made me smile.

Locks versus Access Control

This topic came up with a friend and he suggested his workplace did not need locks since it had access control. WHAT??

Allow me to get back to the basics. If you have a building and all the staff go home, something has to keep a snoop or a criminal from opening a door and just walking in to take stuff. That task is called physical security and the door has to be held by some type of lock hardware. How good your physical security needs be depends on what is on the other side of that door. How good your physical security IS depends on the wall, the door, the hardware and the lock itself.

At some point the next morning, the first staff member returns and needs a way to open the door from the outside. If you are running conventional locks, this is a key. If you have access control, this could be a proximity card. (There are even system where you could send an special email from a phone to a server controlling the door and open the lock too.)

In all these cases, your key or the card or a PIN number are called credentials. If you have to show an issued ID card to a guard before getting into a building, that too is a credential. If you have the right credential, you can enter. Most places actually have both keys and cards. You need to plan for the possibility there will be some problem develop in the card reading system and leave you locked out. The most obvious is power failure for an extended period but vandals smashing the reader would do the same.

Access control is a good name as it really suggests its function. It does not do any better job of keeping out random people in the small hours of the morning, but does let many staff in and keeps a record of that. And more importantly, you can turn off the card for any one person without affecting all the others.

I guess in summary, access control replaces keys with cards and changes what has control of the locking hardware. At much higher cost, it gives an audit trail of all the people who moved through all the controlled doors. However, any good system has keys on a few doors too but with limited key distribution.


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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/

I could never be THIS passionate!

A different locksmith blog posted this commentary on being passionate and it is very funny. Do pop over there to watch it and ask yourself about your passion. I am perhaps compulsive about locks and for brief moments passionate, but it hardly sustains me.

http://www.discreetsecuritysolutions.com/blog/archives/176

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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/

Why do they keep breaking my car windows?

Asked by retail staff as I was working for his store. "Why do they keep breaking my car windows?"

It is an upscale Audi import with an alarm. It is parked in the back lot of an apartment block. They got some stuff out of it the first time. All he leaves in it now is the charging cable for the iPod.

Well frankly, they got something once. And frankly, the cable hints at something being in the glove box or under the seat. (I never asked but if it has darkly tinted windows, they need to break them to see if there is more to take this time.) In big apartment complexes, nobody even hears car alarms most of the time -- people go numb from the frequent false alarms.

It is a shame, but this guy needs to invest money in a house with a garage to get the car out of site. However, I suspect he spare cash is sunk into keeping windows in his car.

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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/

Do NOT jump puddles.

I guess I should explain the delay in posting here for a bit. I came back from SAFETECH 2010 and was back at work. One Tuesday, we had a heavy slushy snow storm and during one job downtown I jumped a gutter filled with slush to avoid getting my shoes wet. It was a small jump of perhaps 3 to 4 feet. The take-off was great. The grace in mid-air was impressive -- or at least we will assume that for sake of the story. I landed on my right foot only but squarely. The landing seemed OK but then I tried to take the next step and something was terribly wrong. I limped across the street barely getting to the far side before the light changed.

Long story. Short.

I tore some of my calf muscle way from its tendon. It hurt. It hurt BAD. It took over a week to heal and there was even a bit of limping then when I was tired at the end of the day.

Long story. Not that short.

Between this injury and vacations by myself and others, this set me up for a 3 week run of on-call with 2 weeks off and now 2 more weeks.

Moral of the story, do not jump puddles. I just hope I can avoid any more workplace athletic injuries.


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The contents of this post are released for non-profit or educational use in whole or in part provided this statement and the attribution below are kept attached.

Laux Myth ... Thoughts From a Locksmith
By MartinB, Found @ http://lauxmyth.blogspot.com/