School Lock Shop Hops To Challenging Beat

Aug 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By Jacqueline Emigh

The lock shop at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) never stops hopping. Ongoing conversion to Schlage and Omnilock is a matter of “better late than never,” since the state-funded school didn't start changing to Y2K-compliant locks until about six months into the year 2000.

Beyond Y2K issues, the size of the campus makes locksmithing at UCSF especially challenging. The lock shop deals with two campuses — the 107-acre Parnassus Avenue campus, which has about 40,000 doors, and the Mission Bay, Calif., campus, currently under construction. Also, fast turnover among graduate students and professors calls for multiple keys.

UCSF began investing in electronic locks for the Parnassus Avenue campus in the 1980s. By the dawn of the new millenium, none of the university's locks were Y2K-compliant, says Brian Hassett, who became the university's lock shop supervisor in 2000.

Since then, Hassett and his lock shop team have been incrementally replacing older Schlage Intellisys locks with newer Locknetics CM and Pro Series models. (Schlage and Locknetics are both brands owned by Ingersoll-Rand.)

Older Omnilock systems are being replaced by newer Omnilock counterparts from Chula Vista, Calif.-based OSI Security Devices.

In 1999, before Hassett arrived at UCSF, he says the staff dealt with the Y2K issue by “lying to the locks about the time and date,” and then conducting a rollback once the millennium hit.

“The problem was that different locks were ‘lied to’ in different ways. So every time UCSF did a [Y2K] audit, the results came back a total mess,” Hassett says, adding that the school needs a gradual approach to Y2K compliance.

“Although we're university employees, the lock shop's services are contracted out by departments and individuals within the school,” he says. “We really can't be telling people how to spend their money. Usually, we just have to wait until a lock breaks before we can replace it.”

Hassett says he's been able to convince some departments to swap all their locks at one time.

The only UCSF facility not serviced by the lock shop is the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, located on the Parnassus Avenue campus, which is externally hard-wired with an access control system. Maintenance engineers hired by the institute handle installation chores.

The university lock shop has been installing Pro Series pushbutton locks in areas such as restrooms and photo darkrooms.

“The pushbutton system is great,” says Hassett. “People don't have to dig around for their keys every time they enter a room.”

The Locknetics CM locks are used in scientific labs and hallways. “Scientists can set timers by programming the locks. That way, if the lab is scheduled to close at a particular time, the doors will automatically lock, preventing the need for a staff member to come by and do a physical lock-up,” Hassett says.

The lock shop staff uses a HP Jornada PDA to program the locks. Some scientists are programming using their own PCs. “Some of the departments are trying to cut costs by doing their own programming,” Hassett says.

Unlike the earlier Schlage Intellisys locks, which relied on PINs alone, the CM locks can accommodate a combination of magnetic stripe and PIN. “We used to have some problems with people giving out the codes,” Hassett adds.

The CMs also keep an audit trail of up to 1,000 events, so the school can keep tabs on who has entered a room at what time. Hassett also likes the ability of the CM locks to connect directly to a freestanding exit device, such as a Von Duprin “panic bar.” This eliminates the need to drill holes in the wall for a hard-wired exit device.

The lock shop also examined Alarm Lock T2 manual and T3 programmable locks for possible use in hallways. “The CM lock, though, is the only one on the market with Von Duprin trim,” Hassett says.

Beyond installing CM and Pro Series locks in place of Schlage Intellisys systems, UCSF is replacing older Omnilock systems with newer Omnilock 100, 250, 300 and 500 models.

In its largest labs, the school is installing the latest version of the Omnilock — the programmable model 2000. The labs, often containing pharmaceutical drugs, are open 24 hours a day and are typically used by 300 to 400 people. The Omnilock 2000s provide an audit trail of up to 5,000 events — five times longer than the CM's trail.

Hassett says Omnilock and Locknetics systems have certain advantages. For example, all locks in the Omnilock 100 through 500 series use the same motors, regardless of whether the trim is cylindrical or mortise. “All you have to do is change the head,” Hassett says.

Despite the fact that some locks have been “compacted down,” the Omnilock 100 through 500 series uses the same size plates as their Omnilock predecessors. “So, we don't need to drill any new holes,” Hassett says.

APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED

Hassett says the freestanding Locknetics locks are tamperproof. “You can't have people throwing in pieces of metal — such as pipe wrenches — to get in,” he says.

Outside the myriad demands of the Parnassus Avenue campus, Hassett and his crew are putting in legwork at UCSF's Mission Bay, Calif., campus, which is currently under construction.

Long-range blueprints call for a number of edifices in Mission Bay, including two lab buildings, an apartment complex and a building to house lab animals.

“The first lab building in Mission Bay is almost done,” Hassett says. Apparently by coincidence, most occupants of this building used Omnilocks prior to their move from Parnassus Avenue. “Omnilocks users tend to want to stick with Omnilocks,” he says. Consequently, Hassett and his crew have been installing updated Omnilock systems.

The second lab facility in Mission Bay is still in the planning stages. For the lab animal facility, equipment will include a hardwired access control system and automatic door openers.

For the apartment complex, which won't open for another couple of years, UCSF is looking at a new edition of Locknetics CM locks outfitted with a feature called Autobolt.

“Autobolt is a bolt that automatically extends when the door is latched and closed. The Autobolt lock would let us combine card access with functionality much like a dead bolt lock,” he says.

“We definitely need a ‘dead bolt’ level of safety for the apartment house. Through card access, we'll be able to manage apartment access simply by adding or deleting someone from the database. This will save us from rekeying, gathering all the old keys together and reissuing new keys each time an apartment changes hands,” adds Hassett.

FOR THE RECORD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jacqueline Emigh is a New York-based writer and a regular contributor to Access Control & Security Systems

ABOUT THE COMPANIES

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Locknetics	37
OSI Security Devices	38
Schlage	39
Von Duprin	40

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