July/August 2019 I 35
control system proximity credential readers. The exciters
and credential readers may need to be installed at a pre-
determined distance apart from each other. This needs
to be documented and the spacing verified during testing.
Documentation needs to answer many questions
that may arise during integration, as well as including
a description of operation when a credential is presented
while a wrist band is in the door area. If this individual
is trained to prevent the infant abduction or wanderer
from eloping, should the door unlatch? Does the individual
need to enter a code on a card reader or keypad
in addition to presenting an authorized credential to
unlatch the door? Is an alarm required if an individual
loiters too long near the door? Is a separate keypad
required on both sides of the door to override the
at-risk human perimeter system?
Delayed egress integration is frequently required in
addition to access control and at-risk human perimeter
systems. The AHJ needs to be consulted for the codes
and to verify if these doors must release when the
sprinkler alarm or fire detection and alarm system
are activated.
Automatic doors are more difficult to use with
supervised care elopement prevention and infant
abduction prevention policies and may require more
inputs and outputs on the automatic door controller.
Common functionality (or common sequence of
operations) calls for the at-risk human perimeter system
to shunt motion sensors, push pads, and credential
readers to prevent the automatic door from opening
when a wrist band is in the area.
• Code Blue
Some healthcare facilities desire the access control
system to unlock crucial doors in an emergency
situation described as a code blue. This allows faster
response times to critically ill patients by medical
personnel. The access control system needs to be
integrated and tested with the nurse call system
code blue alert.
• Healthcare Annunciation
In health care, it is important that care providers are
promptly notified of events. The access control system
may need to send notifications to the nurse call system
for annunciation. The systems will need to be annunciation
tested with all devices used by care providers,
which can include nurse call appliances, radios, pagers,
and devices handling text and email.
• Special Locking
In some detention centers and facilities that care for
people with Alzheimer's and dementia-related diseases,
the AHJ may allow doors to be locked in the path of
egress because the danger from inmates and patients
escaping is greater than the risk of having accesscontrolled
egress doors. The following criteria often
must be included in the access control design:
• Loss of power to the portion of the access
control system that locks the doors shall
automatically result in the doors
being unlocked.
• Activation of the building automatic sprinkler
or fire detection and alarm system shall
automatically unlock the doors. The doors
shall remain unlocked until the fire alarm
system has been reset. Most delayed egress
devices do not automatically reengage
and require local manual reactivation.
• Doors can be unlocked from a manual device
controlled by staff.
• A manual unlocking device shall be provided
at the fire command center.
Many standards for
commissioning recommend
that the individual leading
the commissioning process is
independent of the design team
and the construction team.