It may seem a trivial and, even at times, “low-tech” requirement. But effective visitor ID badge policies and systems can serve as a crucial frontline in workplace security solutions.
For many large organizations, it is important to maintain physical security and confidentiality within organizational facilities. One of the simplest ways to manage this is through mandating all persons on site are wearing visible credentials.
When a process of this nature is implemented, it makes it quick and easy to spot anyone who is present in the facility and is not wearing such credentials. Especially in larger organizations where it is not practical for staff to know and be able to identify everyone who works at the location.
The use of badges has long been standard within many workplaces, healthcare facilities and schools to easily and quickly identify visitors. Employees are often required to wear badges in workplaces that require a high level of security, such as government facilities,
In addition to these benefits, the check-in process for visitors to receive their badge is an opportune time to gather critical information about visitors before they enter your site.
Employee badges tend to stay valid, but visitor badges will have a specific amount of time they’ll be valid for which is generally controlled by an action. More often than not, when the visitor checking out.
An effective visitor badge system requires clear guiding principles that are communicated to all employees within a facility. Your policy should cover the following:
The best way to ensure your office badge policy is easy to apply is to require that everyone present in the facility is wearing a badge at all times.
Make it clear what an authorized badge looks like. This makes it simple for employees to spot any attempts to enter the facility with a forgery.
Your system should clearly outline the types of badges that people may be required to wear. For example, a basic office environment may simply require ‘staff’, ‘contractor’ and ‘visitor’ designated badges, however as you move into more complex manufacturing and engineering workplace environments you may add additional badge designations like ‘manufacturing’ or even ‘security’, where you require different clearance levels across your employee population to manage where they may enter on-site.
For many organizations there may be areas of the building in which confidential information or intellectual property may be exposed to visitors on-site, or occupational health and safety requirements may require visitors to only be in some areas with supervision.
A great way to manage these requirements is to build this into your visitor badge system and policy. Once you have your visitor types determined, consider where different visitor types are allowed to be on your site.
Are there areas they can be left unsupervised? Such as reception or lunch and break out areas. What about areas where they may be if accompanied by an employee?
And of course, clearly designate the areas where a visitor may not be under any circumstances.
Once you have developed your visitor badging policy, the next, and in many ways most crucial, step is to determine how you will implement and maintain your system.
Designing a badge can be hard without a reference to work from. Luckily, we have you covered! To get started, here is the essential information to consider including on your design.
For a visitor badge system to be effective, consider some specific information that needs to be featured (we’ve even got a great image of an example visitor badge):
If you are using access control systems integrated with your employee badging systems, one of the most important considerations for design may be counterintuitive, but it’s crucial.
Do not include the company name on the badge.
Why? Because if an employee ever loses their access badge, the last thing you want is for someone who finds it to know where it can grant them entry to! Instead, provide a contact number for if the badge is found, choosing a number that can not be traced or linked to your company.
Including relevant information on a visitor badge, such as a photo, requires a system that can quickly capture this information and include it on a badge. The last thing you want is a line of visitors waiting at your front desk while a receptionist prepares their individualized badges.
This is where visitor management software comes in.
Sine Core makes it simple for visitors to check themselves in and provide information for their visitor badge, which is then printed instantly.
There are a number of risks and challenges that go along with printed badges in today’s world. One of the main risks in the need for multiple people touching the same surfaces.
It’s inevitable with printed badges that multiple people will be handling the printer, the paper that is loaded into it, and also the people who inadvertently touch the printer whilst retrieving their badge. This is problematic as the spread of germs becomes nearly impossible to avoid and is incredibly time-consuming to manage.
Another challenge associated with printed badges is the limit to the amount of information that can be reasonably displayed on the printed badge. This makes it difficult for all information to be easily accessible and accurate.
For many organizations, the move to paperless is an ever-present objective. With the Sine Pro mobile app, you can implement an entirely digital badge solution. Sine Pro allows visitors to check in through their personal mobile device, generating a digital visitor badge on their phone that can then be shown throughout the facility if they’re asked to verify that they have checked in.
