KeyWatcher touch enhances Blacktown City's security

Situated about 22 miles west of Sydney, Blacktown City is a dynamic suburban area in New South Wales, Australia, home to 350,000 residents across 48 communities. As the second-largest city by population in NSW, Blacktown City is managed by the Blacktown City Council, which oversees the city's daily operations, project developments, and legislative duties.

The Council's key facilities include the Civic Center headquarters and the Main Works Depot in Rooty Hill, where council vehicles, machinery, and other assets are based. This Depot supports various city venues and development of industrial and commercial land.

Asset management system implementation

To enhance accountability and prevent the issue of lost or late vehicles, machinery, and building keys, the Main Works Depot has integrated a key control and asset management solution from Morse Watchmans. The KeyWatcher® Touch system securely stores physical keys in tamper-proof cabinets, granting access only to authorised personnel via verified codes, badges, or biometric scanning. The Depot's management maintains complete control over key access, with automated tracking ensuring full accountability at all times.

"We manage keys for at least 500 vehicles and machines here at the Depot, each having two to three sets of keys," explained Joe Haddad, Facility Manager at the Main Works Depot. "Without the KeyWatcher Touch automated system, keeping a precise track of these many keys would be nearly impossible."

Enhanced employee productivity

The system’s design significantly boosts employee productivity by enabling quicker access to keys

The system’s design significantly boosts employee productivity by enabling quicker access to keys, which can be returned to any available key cabinet on site. Biometric identification, large touchscreens, voice cues, and status bar guides streamline the process of accessing or returning keys. Moreover, a key reservation feature ensures that staff have guaranteed access to vehicles or machinery when required.

The KeyWatcher Touch system keeps track of every key, noting whether it is stored or has been removed and by whom. Managers can access live information via desktop or mobile devices to check the status of keys, including overdue alerts. Special alert notifications via email or SMS provide immediate information.

Seamless network integration

Integration of KeyWatcher Touch with the Depot's access control and video surveillance system adds further efficiency. Through the Inner Range’s Integriti access control system, user access programming such as adding or modifying cardholders is automatically synchronised. The TCP/IP connection facilitates seamless transmission of alarms and transactions to the Integriti system.

"The single platform for video surveillance, access, and key management streamlines operations, keeps costs down, and ensures that nothing is overlooked," Mr. Haddad added. "This state-of-the-art system has fully met our current needs and is expected to do so in the future."

Collaboration for success

The system was developed by Australian Security Technology (AST), with support from Ryalex Security, specialists in commercial security solutions.

"Blacktown City Council has been a long-standing client for us, and addressing their key control challenges efficiently and cost-effectively was crucial," noted David Ishak, General Manager at AST. "The KeyWatcher Touch achieved this, much to the satisfaction of both the Depot and ourselves."

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Blacktown City is a bustling suburban community located approximately 22 miles west of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. Comprising 48 separate communities with a total population of 350,000, the city is the second largest city by population in NSW. The area is governed by Blacktown City Council which is responsible for all aspects of the city’s day-to-day operation, project development initiatives and legislative activities.

Along with the City Council headquarters in the Civic Center, Council facilities also include the Main Works Depot located in the Blacktown City community of Rooty Hill. Council vehicles, heavy machinery and trucks as well as an operational work site for crews and other Depot employees are housed at this location. The Depot supports the operation of numerous city venues and development of zoned and serviced industrial and commercial land.

Asset management system

To help maintain usage accountability and eliminate the problem of missing or overdue vehicles, machinery and/or building keys, the Depot recently implemented a key control and asset management system from Morse Watchmans. The new KeyWatcher® Touch is designed to securely store physical keys in tamper-proof cabinets, only allowing access to keys by authorised individuals with a verified code, badge, or biometric identification. Access to the key cabinet and to individual keys is under the complete control of Depot management and the automatic tracking provides full accountability for who has which key at any time.

“We manage keys for at least 500 vehicles and machines here at the Depot and each of them has at least two to three sets of keys,” said Joe Haddad, Facility Manager, Main Works Depot. “Without the KeyWatcher Touch automated control and tracking, the job of accurately keeping track of these many keys would be almost impossible.”

Several key cabinets

An important aspect of managing the large Depot is employee productivity and the design of the KeyWatcher Touch conforms to this by making the process of accessing or returning keys faster and easier for employees. Keys can be returned to any of the several key cabinets on site rather than having to return the key to the cabinet from which it was removed.

Biometric identification, large, easy to read touch screens, voice cues, and status bar guides help to ensure a fast and easy procedure when accessing or returning keys to the cabinet. Key reservations ensure that staff will have guaranteed access to a vehicle or machine when needed.

Special alert notifications

The system automatically tracks the location of each key stored in a key cabinet or, if the key has been removed, the system can determine who has it out. Access to live information via the desktop or mobile lets department managers see which keys are out, if any keys are overdue, and when keys will become overdue. And for immediate information regarding a key, special alert notifications using email or SMS text provides the data instantly.

Network integration of the KeyWatcher Touch with the Depot’s access control and video surveillance system further adds to its ease of use and productivity. User access programming including add/modify/delete cardholders and badge data is managed through Inner Range’s Integriti access control system and all changes are automatically synchronised. Alarms and transactions are passed to the Integriti system via the Depot’s TCP/IP connection.

Key control problems

“The single platform for control of our video surveillance, access and key management streamlines the operation, keeps costs down and helps to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks,” adds Mr. Haddad. “We are very pleased with this state of the art system and it has more than met our needs both today and, we expect, going forward.”

The system was designed and built by system integrator Australian Security Technology (AST), a provider of key and asset management solutions in the Pacific region. Working with AST, Ryalex Security, a commercial security specialists company, helped bring the project together for Blacktown City Council.

“Blacktown City Council is a long-time customer and it was important that we help them solve their key control problems as efficiently and cost effectively as possible,” said David Ishak, General Manager, AST. “The KeyWatcher Touch provided the solution to the great satisfaction of both the Depot and ourselves.”

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