To end the headache of managing thousands of keys around campus, the University’s Facility Services department is making headway in implementing its new procedure for issuing and tracking keys.
The new system utilizes an online database that allows Facility Services to track the keys once they are issued, according to Brian Broussard, the building access coordinator for Facility Services.
With the old key system, Facility Services would cut and issue keys from its own lock shop based on work orders from various departments.
Once keys were cut, Facility Services would give the keys to building coordinators, who are responsible for communicating with Facility Services about public safety and risk management concerns within their building. These building coordinators then issued keys to professors.
For more than a decade, building coordinators have been keeping track of hundreds of keys with only a notebook, making it difficult to manage the security of more than 100 academic buildings on campus, according to Sam Territo, associate director of facility maintenance.
“With the online key database, you are able to actually get control of keys and hold people accountable, which allows us to have a more secure campus,” Broussard said.
Territo said not being able to track keys could lead to the wrong individuals having access to buildings.
“When a student is working late in a facility, we want them to be concentrated on their studies, not worried about ‘Did I hear a noise?’” Territo said.
Another part of the program still in the works will eventually allow building coordinators to use the database to see who has keys in their own buildings, which will also improve accountability and safety, Broussard said.
Although the online database is up and running, Territo said it could take years before the entire campus is on the system.
“The time it takes to implement the procedure is a function of the number of buildings we have,” Territo said.
Numerous buildings on campus are also moving toward card access capabilities as part of the new procedure. Roughly 26 buildings on campus have card readers so far, Broussard said.
The advantage of the card readers, although more expensive to initially install, is that the operating costs are lower in the long run, Territo said. In the event a card is lost or stolen, that card is deactivated and a new one quickly reissued.
Territo said the program was implemented to improve the overall safety of the campus community and will only be successful with the help of the LSU Police Department and every other college at the University, which has partnered with Facility Services to make the transition.
“We are not an island,” Territo said. “We have so many people on our campus every day that we want to do whatever it takes to make our campus community a safe place for students.”
“We are not an island … we have so many people on our campus every day that we want to do whatever it takes to make our campus community a safe place for students.”