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Increase security with visitor badges that "expire"

by Paul Kazlauskas

Any time you encounter strangers at your place of work, you may wonder who they are and what they are doing there — especially if they aren’t wearing an I.D. badge.

Some places require visitors to wear a visitor badge, and some don’t. Likewise, some places require employees to wear an I.D. badge, while others don’t. At best, not identifying visitors arouses employees’ curiosity and, at worst, leaves people and property exposed to potential harm.

Let’s say your company, hospital, school, or agency values identifying visitors by requiring them to wear a visitor badge. That’s a great start. Your employees will feel and be safer by your implementing that security policy. But how do you prevent a visitor from gaining access to your facility at a future date if they try to reuse the visitor badge you issued them? Or if a stranger finds a discarded badge? If you don’t collect the visitor badge from the visitor, you are opening yourself up to a potential security issue. Even if retrieving the visitor pass from the visitor is your security protocol, it is still possible for a visitor to slip out of the building without giving the badge back.

Visitor badges that expire visibly cannot be reused as easily. By “expire”, we mean it changes color over time so that, even from a distance, you can tell that the wearer should, at the very least, be stopped and questioned.

“Valid today, void tomorrow.” No matter when you issue a visitor pass — morning, afternoon, or evening — by the next day the “void” will leave no doubt the badge has completely expired. So, when employees see someone wearing visitor identification, they can tell if that person has permission to be in the building or not. (In addition, using badges that expire helps your people at the front desk, because they don’t have to worry about collecting visitor badges every time visitors leave.)

Deterrence tool for security. We doubt many people will try to gain unescorted access inside a facility wearing an expired visitor badge, because it exposes them as trespassers right away. In most cases, we believe the voided badge prevents unauthorized use in the first place. And deterrence is the best line of defense in any good security protocol.

We offer three types of tamper-proof “expiring” visitor badges, available for signing in by hand or by computer, and activated after they are filled out and peeled off the label liner:

The TAB-Expiring visitor badge has a patented one-piece design that makes activation virtually foolproof. The tab is simply folded behind the badge. Overnight, a “VOID” image appears on the right side.

The FULL-Expiring visitor badge is the most visible expiring solution because the entire badge changes color overnight, so can be seen from a distance. Just stick it on top of the red back piece to activate the expiration process … and it’s ready to wear ... until it becomes VOID the next day.

The DOT-Expiring visitor badge has a red expiring circle preprinted on the bottom right corner. A white “front piece dot” gets applied over the red circle. The next day, an image of the word "VOID" will appear, indicating the badge has expired.

How do you prevent visitor badges from being reused? Feel free to add your thoughts in the “Comments” section below.

Want to learn more about expiring visitor badges for your facility? 

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Our visitor badges “VOID” overnight to prevent reuse. 
See them for yourself — request free samples!

 

Posted on 3/15/2017