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Optex helps healthcare trust protect vacant building from unwanted visitors

Innovative wireless ‘BoundaryGard' intruder detection technology from Optex Europe is proving a major success in assisting a local healthcare trust in meeting its health & safety liabilities as the owner of a huge hospital block that has stood empty for the past four years.

Local installer Dartline Security Systems Ltd was called in by a West Country-based NHS Trust to provide a solution for securing a specific block on a now defunct building on the hospital estate.

Dartline in turn turned to Optex Europe, whose BoundaryGard detectors were specified as an integral part of a Tag Guard Systems' wireless solution - a bespoke solution that combines powerful detection performance with an effective monitored response.

"The Trust needed a way of keeping the building safe from intruders," explains Richard Thomas, Managing Director of Dartline Security, "but they also needed to meet their property owner liabilities in keeping intruders safe from harm.  Empty buildings can be dangerous places, and are a magnet not only for youths out to cause mischief, but also for serious vandals to cause equally serious damage.

"The challenge," Richard continues, "was how to protect the building effectively, but without the capital cost of a permanent intruder system.  The challenge was also in finding a solution that did not require electricity or phone lines, since all utilities to the building had been disconnected.  The answer was in a wireless Tag Guard Systems solution."

The solution comprises some 50 Optex wireless BoundaryGard detectors installed at various strategic points around the site to detect intruders attempting to gain access.  Reliability, and a flexible detection pattern was key, as was the products' ability to detect intruders in long corridors, often on a slope.  The Trust looked at the option of guards, but this proved too expensive and limited in its capability given the size of the building.

"A single guard would not have been enough and wouldn't have been able to hear someone breaking in the other side of the building," Richard continues.  "The Trust would have had to employ three or four guards to do the job properly, but this wasn't cost-effective, especially as they didn't know how long the officers would have to be employed for.

"The capital cost of a permanent system was also not viable.  So the ability to have a system they could rent, and that could be installed without needing any electricity or hard wiring proved very attractive."

The system has already proved its worth several times over, preventing intruders from doing serious damage or coming to harm themselves.  "The wireless Optex detectors are very reliable," Richard adds, "and through Tag Guard Systems we are able to monitor their performance in case of any difficulties.  Indeed the service from the Tag Guard Systems monitoring station is excellent.  They provide us with regular status reports - or can produce reports on demand - with full alarm histories as required.  Through Tag Guard Systems we are able manage such essentials as battery-life, so that the detectors are always working at their optimum capacity."