6 minute read
SAFETY TIPS FOR A HIGH-RISE
By Hamlet Vazquez, MCAM-HR,
Whether it’s a homeless person, trespasser, or simply a con artist going door to door selling fake memberships, access control in a high-rise environment is vital to the well-being of your residents.
In fact, most residents have come to expect “security” when living in a high-rise, particularly ones in a luxury high-rise. While we can’t guarantee the safety of our residents (and should make sure that they are aware of that), there are steps that we can take to help create a more secure environment.
Over the previous 16 years in managing high-rises, I obviously can’t say that I’ve seen it all, but I have seen a lot!
I’ve had the relatively mundane occurrence of a homeless man sneaking into a parking garage and climbing up 22 flights of stairs to find a quiet place to sleep for the night, two young kids conning their way past the front desk to sell what ended up being fake magazine subscriptions, and the much more regular occurrences of trespassers finding a way onto the property to check for unlocked vehicles and valuables in plain sight.
Through it all I have worked with diligent boards to help minimize all incidents alike. This article is here to help you be pro-active and get ahead of incidents before they occur. While every property is different, below are some potential ways that you can help make your community a safer one, from low-bar ideas that can be implemented today to ones that will take more planning, funding, and time.
REMIND YOUR RESIDENTS WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
It is good practice to remind your residents on a regular basis that they (not the association or management) are responsible for their own safety. Whether that is done via your regular communications or as part of your annual disclosure, this is a vital first step.
Reminders regarding being vigilant and reporting suspicious individuals and activities is a good place to start. Along with such, a good reminder to give is to make sure vehicles are locked and valuables are not in plain sight. While this is commonsensical, it is worth repeating on a regular basis.
ONE CALL TO NOTIFY THEM ALL
What do you do when you need to get a hold of ALL your residents quickly to report an emergency such as a trespasser? What about if you need to just contact that one stack due to a water backup only on certain floors?
There are various apps/software subscriptions out there where with one call you can reach all the residents or whatever subgroup of residents you choose to contact. This is an important tool for your association to have at its disposal.
VIRTUAL & PHYSICAL FENCES
If your association has walls that can be climbed, then, the more diligent trespasser will find a way to climb them. In that case, you may want to consider a “virtual” fence and/or a physical fence.
A “virtual” fence is one that has motion sensors that then notify your front desk and/or security to the activity. While this fence will not actually stop a trespasser, it will notify the onsite team of the presence of a possible trespasser. I have used such a solution to great effect.
In terms of the physical fence, it will, of course, stop the trespasser, but it can be unsightly and create a sense that your association is a prison. Not the best look.
CAMERAS ARE HELPFUL
Contrary to what you may have been told, there really is no expectation of privacy in an elevator. At least, not anymore. With the prevalence of cameras all over the place, it’s unlikely that you will receive too much push back with installing cameras in elevators, if you don’t already have them.
If your elevators are programmed to only allow residents to their particular floor, the obvious security flaw is that anyone can just stand in an elevator and wait for it to be called to a certain floor. With cameras in elevators, it’s easy to see when someone is in fact doing just that and steps can then be taken to escort the individual off the property.
SECURE THAT STAIRWELL
If your high-rise is anything like the ones that I have managed, once someone gets into your stairwell from the parking levels, they can climb up and reach any of the residential floors. Some fortunate buildings have stairwell doors that are locked from the stairwell, but most don’t since those doors would need to be tied into the fire control system of the building to release upon an alarm – an expensive add-on for the builder.
What you may be able to do is install a security door in the stairwell between the highest parking level and the residential floors – this door serves as a barrier, so if someone makes it into your parking garage and starts going up the stairs towards residential floors, they can’t go past this secure door.
The key to getting this door approved by the fire department is to have that one door tied into the fire control system to release upon a fire alarm, so instead of having to do that for all of your residential floors, you just do it for this one door.
HIGH-SPEED ROLL UP DOORS
Of course, you can also just make it more difficult for someone to simply walk into your parking garage as cars drive in and out. To do so, consider installing high-speed roll up doors. After we installed them at one of my prior properties, the trespasser incidents dropped dramatically. Even trespassers who tried to run in were in awe at how quickly the vehicle entry doors closed, much to their chagrin.
As you can see, there are several ways to better secure your property, but some of these will take some planning and most importantly, buy-in from your boards. As the manager, your responsibility is not to guarantee the safety of your association sbut to be ready to present potential ideas that can in fact help create a safer environment. Leave it up to your boards to make a sound business decision as to what is implemented to help achieve that end.
Hamlet Vazquez, MCAM-HR, is the General Manager at Wilshire Terrace Co-op in Los Angeles.
