Panic Buttons

So far, you've learned how to get members into your club using fitness management software and an access control system, in addition to using a surveillance system to verify that the members are following club policy when they enter. The next requirement that insurance companies ask for is related to making sure that members are safe while they're in your club. This is accomplished by using a panic button system.

A basic panic system consists of 4 wall mounted panic buttons, 2 panic "necklaces", and a security panel. If any emergency situations occur while your club is unstaffed, your members may press a button and emergency personnel will be dispatched to your club.

As you may have guessed, the necklaces are wireless devices. They are available for your members to use if they should want to keep a panic button with them while they are using the club. The wall mounted panic buttons may be wired or wireless, although the trend is towards wireless due to its ease of installation. You should also have signs that clearly describe what the purpose of the panic buttons is, and how to use them.

The security panel consists of a wireless receiver (to communicate with the wireless panic necklaces), an automatic phone dialer, a battery backup, and a keypad. The panel installs in a similar fashion to a standard answering machine, plugging it into a phone line and then plugging your phones into it. It is designed this way so that the security panel can take control of your phone system to dial a central alarm monitoring station if a button is pressed. The central station will then dispatch the proper authorities, as well as notifying you of the alarm activation. A nice side effect of the panel is that it can also alert you if there is a power failure at your club.

Some optional equipment that can make your panic button system even more functional include a strobe light which flashes when an alarm event occurs (this helps provide members with a visual clue that emergency personnel are in route), smoke / heat detectors, door / window alarms, and glass break detectors.

Surveillance Enhancements

There are many things that can be done to make your surveillance system easier to use, which will be the topic of this post.



One question we hear from customers of our systems all the time is "What if a member lets someone into the club behind them?". Technology provides the solution for this problem (a problem that is generally larger in clubs that have a lot of younger members). The device is called a tailgate detection system, or TDS. The TDS is a device that consists of two plexiglass posts mounted on the inside door frame of the entry door. The TDS watches the comings and goings of your club, and if it detects more than one person entering the facility on a single card swipe, it sends out an alert to your surveillance system.



Your surveillance system then picks up that signal as an "alarm event", which causes your DVR to log the event and record it at a very high quality and low speed. This change in the recording parameters allows the club owner to review the surveillance history of the TDS infraction quickly and easily by simply reviewing recordings in the alarm history event buffer. In fact, several of the DVR's we sell can even send an email to the club owner with a picture embedded into it of the TDS infraction. All of this works to reduce the amount of time that a club owner needs to spend reviewing surveillance footage.



Another question that we often hear is "Can I view my club's surveillance from my home?". As long as your DVR has a network interface on board (and most do), you can network the DVR to your router and, using a high speed Internet connection, you can view the club's surveillance using the Internet. There may be some advanced configurations that need to be performed at your club in order to allow this to occur - and these can be done by either your network technician, or remotely by the company that you buy your system from.



Built in to most DVR's is the capability to record only when motion is detected. This feature if used can save hard drive space on your DVR, allowing it to record for more time before overwriting itself. Many club owners report that they are getting 3-5 days of a recording history out of the DVR's, and many insurance providers have minimum requirements with respect to either hard drive size, or length of recording time, so you should probably check with your insurance company before you buy a DVR to make sure it meets their requirements.

Surveillance System

Now that you know how to get members in and out of your club using an access control system, you need to move into the realm of enforcement and safety. The first part of securing your 24 hour access fitness center is performed by installing a surveillance system.

Most insurance companies that insure this type of facility require a minimum 4 camera system. The system will consist of a 4 camera digital video recorder (DVR), a vari-focal (fancy word for manual zoom) camera, 3 dome cameras, a video monitor, a power supply for the cameras, and a battery backup for the entire system. The insurance companies generally require that the vari-focal camera watches the comings and goings at the front door, a dome camera views the treadmills, one views the free-weight area, and the last one views the back door.

I would suggest that there are other areas of your club that are important to you from a safety / security standpoint, and so I advise that all of my customers trade up to an 8 camera surveillance system instead of the 4 camera system. With the added cameras, I recommend having a parking lot camera, a foyer camera, a camera watching the front desk, and a camera watching the circuit area. 8 cameras provides you with significantly better coverage than 4. I also recommend installing an LCD video monitor viewable by your members as the enter the club. This concept is used as a theft deterrence by stores, and you'll be using it to just remind members that they are on video.

In my next post, I'll discuss other devices and options that can make your surveillance system more functional, and easier to use.

Access System - part 3

We've now learned about the door hardware system, and the access system. The last part of your access control system is your computer and your fitness management software. 75% of fitness software companies are compatible with access control (though many of them refer to it as turnstile or gate control). However, not all of them are created equally as to how functional they are in this area. The old school way that these companies thought of access control is simply that an employee would be sitting at the desk, a member would present their card to a reader, and a turnstile would activate - allowing the valid member to enter the workout area. This meant that, in the software provider's eyes, if there were some type of problem with the membership, the turnstile, or the software, there was a staff member there to assist the member.

In today's world of access control, the access system does not consist of a turnstile, but an actual entry door. In addition, there is very often no staff member there to assist the member if there is a problem (say for example their membership has expired) - they just simply don't get in. This means that the access system must run flawlessly, for hours (and sometimes even days) with no employee interaction. This task can be daunting for some software providers, who are still stuck thinking that someone working at the club is there to click their way out of a message or error. In addition, providing feedback to the member as to why the system isn't letting them in becomes extremely important. Some companies provide audio signals ("your membership has expired"), or visual cues via a video monitor. The best software providers are more proactive, and they alert the member before his or her membership expires via email, or by simply providing the audio cue "membership expires in 10 days" for example.

It is not only the software that has to be functional and robust for this application. Your computer and its operating system has to run flawlessly in an unattended fashion for several days. Think of how many times your computer pops something up asking you to "click here to continue" or "would you like to update this program". These things cannot occur when no one is there to interact with them, especially if they prevent your check in software from letting members in while they wait for user interaction. And the kiss of death is an automatic update. How many times have you gone to your computer system only to see the message "Windows has performed an automatic update and your computer was restarted"? Imagine if this chain of events had occurred while a member was trying to enter your club.

I highly recommend that you ask your software provider if their check in software can be set up to launch automatically if the computer should experience a reboot. The last thing you want to do is be called down to your club in the middle of the night to simply restart your software program.

Beyond the computer, your operating system, and your fitness management software, you must give serious thought to weather related power outages. However brief these may be, your entire computer and access system should be running on a robust battery backup system. We're not talking about a $50 battery backup here - this is more likely a $200-300 system.

We've now learned about the 3 main aspects of access control - the door hardware, the access control system, and the computer and software. Now that you know what it takes to get members in an out of your club, we'll move on to the safety measures that must be put in place to allow them (and you) the peace of mind of knowing that everyone using the club is safe. In addition to peace of mind, you'll have to find insurance for your 24/7 access fitness club - and the insurance companies willing to insure this type of business have some safety requirements of their own as you can imagine.

Access System - part 2

I'd like to spend some time informing you about the parts of the access system that bridge the gap between your computer system (which I'll discuss in the next post) and the door hardware (which I discussed in my previous post).

We now all know that the door is going to be opened through the activation of either an electric strike, or a maglock. But what tells these devices to function? That is the job of the access system itself. An access system consists of two smaller systems - an input system, and an output system.

The primary component of the input system is a card reader. Typically, and especially in fitness club access systems, this is a barcode reader (see photo). A weatherproof barcode reader mounted to the outside of the fitness center waits for your members to swipe their membership card or keytag through it. It then sends this information to your computer, and more importantly, to your member management software, as input. Since I'm going to spend time in the next post discussing the details of the software and computer, let's just simplify things for now and assume that the member who swiped their card is a valid member.

With that valid member input, your computer system will then send an output to a door controller (see photo). The door controller is an electronic device that picks up that signal and provides the power needed to activate the electric strike. As we learned previously, if you are using a maglock, the door controller keeps that device powered all the time, and when it wants to unlock the door, it actually cuts power.

So we've learned that once we get past the door hardware, we find the access system, which is simply an input and output system that manages the electric strike or maglock. Next week, we'll get into the final component of the access system - the computer (and software).

Access System - part 1

As previously mentioned, the access system is typically the most misunderstood system related to converting a 24 hour access fitness club. That's probably because part of the access system includes hardware related to the door, and that is generally the domain of a locksmith, not a fitness center owner. But it doesn't have to be that difficult - you'll simply find a qualified local locksmith to handle this part of your installation. All you need to do is understand the basics so you know how to find the right locksmith for the job. In this post, I'll discuss many of the details related to modifying your door to allow member access.

First, there are two main methods of controlling door access - electric strike and maglock. Which one you use will depend primarily on what style of door you have. If given a choice, we always recommend customers opt for installing an electric strike.

The way an electric strike works is that in its locked condition, it is not powered. Once power is applied to the strike by your access system, it unlocks, allowing member entry. This is what's known as "fail-secure". This means for example, if you have a power outage, your facility is secure (locked). Of course, members will always be able to get out of your club, even if power fails - by using a crash bar or exit push paddle. We tell customer to budget around $500 for a typical electric strike installation.

In contrast, a maglock is a "fail-safe" device. This means that if power fails, your door will be unlocked. The way a maglock works, is just the opposite of how a strike works. That is, when power is applied to a maglock, it is locked. It is when power is removed from the maglock (by your access system) that free entry to the club is allowed. Because of the way it functions, a maglock requires other devices to be installed inside the fitness center to allow members to exit. These devices are called requests for exit devices, also known as RFE or REX devices. Often these are motion activated, so that if someone approaches the door from inside the club, it unlocks automatically. Although they are often easier to install, maglocks are generally twice as expensive to install than electric strikes.

Other locking devices are available, and they may be used in unique situations. They include devices such as electrified crash bars, electrified latch pull devices, and more. In any case, most of the alternate devices operate by the same principle of the strike or the maglock, and they are designed mainly to accommodate non standard doors.