Horse Racing Operator Modernizes Entry Control at Headquarters

Around the turn of the century, Woodbine Entertainment Group was ahead of the curve. The largest operator of horse racing in Canada recognized that standard access control was not enough to protect the substantial liquid assets the organization routinely had on site.

It moved to stop piggybacking and tailgating into the back office at Woodbine Racetrack by putting optical turnstiles in front of the two doorways off the lobby reception area. Any alarm on the turnstile would lock the door to block access and the system worked pretty well.

Fifteen years later, the turnstile was failing and the manufacturer was out of business so spare parts were not available. The security of the headquarters and speed of access was compromised as hundreds of workers, guests and contractors a day had to funnel through a single doorway.

Objective
“We needed an inexpensive solution that offers convenient worker access with the same type of security or better,” said Robin Soobramanie, PP, Senior Manager, Security Operations at Woodbine. Woodbine has employees card in and card out so they have an occupancy count and know who is in the building at all times. “These days, with health and safety, it’s good to be able to tell the fire department in an evacuation situation what staff may still be in the building.” A troubling aspect of the existing turnstile solution was that employees had learned over the years to go through side-by side when one forgot his/her badge. Improving employee accountability and occupancy intelligence was also desired.

Solution
Robin’s team considered turnstiles but the cost was too high. Woodbine’s systems integrator told them about Door Detective and videos and information on Smarter Security’s website served to educate the team on this alternative. Woodbine purchased Door Detective CL and put it on one of the lobby doors, which are also monitored by video surveillance. “We chose the CL because the longer profile means people can’t crawl under it,” said Mr. Soobramanie. “The installation and integration with our access control system was straight-forward and we had no issues.”

Door Detective CL mounts to the sides of the door frame and takes up considerably less room than the former turnstile. The security team at Woodbine trained employees on the new system and received early responses of “it’s easy” and “it’s nice and colorful.”

Result
Door Detective has been a quick success. A user presents his badge to the reader and if he’s authenticated, the door unlocks. He enters and other workers can present their badges and follow through the door without it closing. “The change from the turnstile to Door Detective has taken time for some users to get used to it, but it has absolutely worked well,” stated Mr. Soobramanie. “Tailgaters and unauthorized intruders are accurately alarmed.” Door Detective CL has status lights and a local alarm sounder to provide users feedback. Woodbine amplified the audible alarm to bring more attention to access violations. “We’re serious about security.”

Any alarms on Door Detective bring the attention of security to investigate, and recorded video can also be used for investigations. Security and accountability are enhanced in two ways. Now employees can’t collude and enter side-by-side anymore. And because Door Detective has direction control – enforcing authorization for only an entry or an exit – Woodbine can keep better count of building occupancy. “Door Detective looks good – it’s not bulky – and we have the high security entry control we need at an affordable cost,” said Mr. Soobramanie. “We look forward to adding Door Detective to our other lobby door and possibly elsewhere in our administrative offices.”