Port Newcastle

The site
A large port side industrial site in Newcastle covering hundreds of hectares and operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The site has 20 operational areas.

The challenge
There were several isssues at this site with their previous master key systems. The first was age, the master key system was installed over decades and comprised of various inline systems. There were also many unaccounted for master keys in circulation meaning site security was compromised. Being a waterside site, the obvious additional problems faced are mainly environmental such as salt and dust binding up locks which in turn then required service.

Factors considered
The site is high security and as such required a maximum security master key system.
The system needed to be highly resistant to the sites environmental factors plus have the ability to create a highly complex master key heirachy to cope with the specific access needs of the 160 various key holders. With this all in mind the keys also needed to be smooth to insert and effortless to operate.
The Decision
EVVA 3KSplus system was the preferred master key system for the project. The two main factors influencing the decision were those around environment and the ability of the system to create a highly complex master key heirachy to avoid the issuing of a large number of master keys.
The 3KSplus system was chosen because of the level of security it offered with the decision being influenced by site specific users and environmental factors. These factors were,

1. 3KSplus has the ability to create highly complex master key heirachys. This allows the system hierarchy to be created to suit the site which in turn limits the number of master keys that are issued.
2. 3KSplus’s resistance to environmental factors. The 3KSplus system has design features that make the system highly resistant to environmental factors. These include

• The internal sliders (pins) are teflon coated. This mean that there was no need for lubrication of the cylinders. The lubricant would only act as an additional attractant for dust and salt.
• The springless design whilst reducing wear on keys also reduces the impact of the environmental factors as the key actively places the sliders into place.

The Clients Thoughts

Since the initial installation in 2014, there has been more than 600 3KSplus cylinders installed at the site. During this time there has been one or two jammed locks which is a large reduction from the previous system, the cause of the jammed lock was put down to shackle failure and not cylinder issues. In summing up the 3KSplus system the customer described it as “extremely versatile, hardy and easy to use”. One key cost saving feature was the ability to rebarrel existing padlocks with the 3KSplus system.