Building Safety and Security in the Era of COVID-19

Rolling Doors and Grilles Provide Trusted Protection Against Theft while Avoiding the Dreaded Broken Window Theory
Rolling Doors and Grilles Provide Trusted Protection Against Theft while Avoiding the Dreaded Broken Window Theory (Courtesy of 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Multiple Awards Winner, CornellCookson.)

Guest OpEd by Adrienne Reitz, Senior Marketing Communications Manager, CornellCookson

The effects of COVID-19 are transforming all aspects of life and business.

As more and more shops, restaurants, bars and other hospitality and retail businesses shutter for safety reasons or due to stay-at-home restrictions on non-essential businesses, many need long-term security solutions for their buildings and property.

Some businesses have turned to a do-it-yourself approach: boarding up glass windows and doors to prevent theft and looting.

Others have hired professional boarders – companies that specialize in boarding up businesses, homes and other buildings in the face of natural disasters and now pandemics.

The problem is, plywood and 2x4s don’t truly offer much in the way of security, as intruders or burglars can pull them down in seconds using simple household tools.

And moreover, boarding up a business can have the unintended effect of making the building and its area look neglected or unsafe.

For surrounding businesses that do remain open, especially upscale and luxury stores, this can make customers uncomfortable or unwilling to make the trip to that area of town.

(See SteelWeave™ Metal Mesh Grille which complement and enhance any building’s design while still providing security. Made of a woven type 316 stainless steel mesh material, it exudes elegance while the multiple patterns transform a standard security grille into a piece of rolling art. Courtesy of Cornell Iron Works, Inc. and YouTube.)

“There is a perception out there that boarding up businesses is bad for a number of reasons,” explained Heather Bender, Strategic Marketing Manager, CornellCookson.

“But one big one is that patrons may perceive that the business is located in a high crime area and may not be safe.”

Heather Bender
Heather Bender, strategic marketing manager, CornellCookson

“This is a direct correlation to the broken window concept, a theory that states visible signs of crime creates an environment that encourages further crime and disorder.”

One way to ensure protection of retail, restaurant and hospitality properties while maintaining clean visuals is by installing rolling doors, grilles and other high-security products that can be hidden in the building façade or ceiling when not in use.

Remind your clients that as active security measures, these are far more likely to keep their facilities safe because they provide security on demand.

They last for years, can be called into service in seconds (compared to the time and energy to commission a boarding company), are made of high-quality materials and many are made right here in America.

Plus, these products also have a host of other applications when it comes to building safety and security in the time of COVID-19.

We’ve explored some of them below.

Specifying the Right Grille or Door for the Right Application

Instead of allowing clients to rely on sheets of plywood, security professionals should help building owners understand the importance of installing coiling products on the inside or outside of glass windows and doors.

Solutions for Retail

Retail stores present an attractive target for thieves, which is why CornellCookson rolling security closures are made to prevent them from ever getting in. The company’s security doors and shutters for retail businesses can be easily concealed when not in use, then extend for dependable protection after hours. Whether you have your own shop or manage loss prevention on a nationwide scale, CornellCookson can help you keep any business safe and secure.
Retail stores present an attractive target for thieves, which is why CornellCookson rolling security closures are made to prevent them from ever getting in. The company’s security doors and shutters for retail businesses can be easily concealed when not in use, then extend for dependable protection after hours. Whether you have your own shop or manage loss prevention on a nationwide scale, CornellCookson can help you keep any business safe and secure.

“There is a perception that for a coiling product to be considered ‘high security,’ it has to be bold and in your face,” said Bender.

“But that’s not true. You can install an aesthetically pleasing rolling grille on the inside of a window or door.”

“The storefront will still look great from the outside but there is high security hiding just behind the glass and out of sight of passersby during business hours.”

“Plus, because grilles offer great visibility, passersby can still window shop when the store is closed – a win-win for businesses.”

If the client prefers, rolling doors and grilles can be installed on the outside of the window or door to protect the glass and obscure merchandise or visual access to the interior.

Solutions for Parking

High performance, fast speeds, extremely quiet and fits into 50% less headroom then other security grilles, MicroCoil has it all.

There is also a growing variety of compact security grilles that feature extremely small headroom requirements.

This allows specifiers to install these products in tight spaces where there is little ceiling space or overhead room for a standard size grille.

These products are especially important for protecting parking garages in downtown retail areas because they look great, operate quickly and efficiently, and accommodate the latest ADA van clearance requirements for garages.

Secure any parking garage with a custom roll-up door or security gate made to fit your opening to keep unwanted elements out while maintaining an attractive appearance and excellent traffic flow. These products are quiet, open three times faster than traditional parking garage doors and come with a range of options and accessories for designing your ideal solution.

These types of grilles can also be used in retail or non-parking applications where headroom is a constraint.

Solutions for Healthcare

If your doorway has extremely limited headroom and a wider opening, a side folding grille may be the best option.

“In the healthcare space, there are a host of standard and high-performance rolling doors and grilles that provide security,” said Bender.

“Some solutions offer basic levels of security for storing vital equipment such as personal protection equipment (PPE).”

“More advanced rolling doors protect against forced entry to help safeguard critical openings in pharmacies, laboratories and other infrastructure areas in the time of a pandemic.”

Examples of standard doors can be found on two hospital ships currently deployed to treat COVID-19 patients in New York City and Los Angeles.

The USN Comfort and USN Mercy utilize rolling doors on their top decks to safely store equipment and medical supplies when not in use.

Examples of standard doors can be found on two hospital ships currently deployed to treat COVID-19 patients in New York City and Los Angeles.
Examples of standard doors can be found on two hospital ships deployed to treat COVID-19 patients in New York City and Los Angeles. (Courtesy of Door Services Inc, CornellCookson and Facebook)

Traditional hospitals and healthcare facilities have similar needs and more. For example, in-house pharmacies and dispensaries are often targeted by thieves, including employees, due to extensive stockpiles of pharmaceutical drugs.

Therefore, it’s important that these facilities utilize the latest in forced-entry security, including rolling doors and grilles.

Additionally, as behavioral healthcare needs become more complex, some manufacturers have designed rolling doors for life safety and security all types of patients.

Special anti-ligature counter doors made specifically for exam rooms allow hospitals and other healthcare facilities turn normal rooms into behavioral health rooms.

This is critical for behavioral healthcare patients who need to be tested for COVID-19 and may pose a threat to their own safety.

Anti-ligature doors can be deployed with the touch of a button, which allows exam rooms to be quickly turned over to rooms optimized for behavioral health patients, then changed back to a standard exam room after the patient is seen and the space is sanitized.

Rely on the Knowledge of Safety and Security Product Manufactures

“Regardless of a building or business owner’s needs, it’s important that security professionals guide them with professional advice and seek solutions that will help protect against theft without making a building or area look unsafe and require a ton of advanced and materials to implement,” concluded Bender.

Therefore it is crucial for specifiers and security professionals to remain abreast of the most secure products available on the market at any given time.

Contact your local rolling door and grille sales rep, seek out additional information about third-party tested and certified products, and do your due diligence when it comes finding the best combination of coiling products to protect your client’s biggest investments.

About the Author

Adrienne Reitz
Adrienne Reitz, Adrienne Reitz, Sr Marketing Communications Manager at CornellCookson

Adrienne Reitz, serves as Senior Marketing Communications Manager, at CornellCookson.

An accomplished communications professional, Reitz combines a love of words, an obsession for detail, and a passion for getting it right for a worldwide network of dealers and architects. 

To Learn More, please visit cornelliron.com.

CornellCookson Takes Two in the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program

Adrienne Reitz, Heather Bender, Trevor Errrington, and CornellCookson CCO Sean Smith, accepting the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Platinum Homeland Security Award at the ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon.
Adrienne Reitz, Heather Bender, Trevor Errrington, and CornellCookson CCO Sean Smith, accepting the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Platinum Homeland Security Award at the ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon.

CornellCookson

  • Best Critical Infrastructure Protection Solution

  • EntryDefender™ Door

  • EntryDefender™ High Performance Doors provide Security for critical infrastructure facilities.

(Safe room design no longer has to be challenging. StormDefender™ gives you ICC 500 compliance with automatically locking doors that recess into the ceiling, giving you more open designs than ever before. Courtesy of CornellCookson and YouTube.)

  • Best Access Control & Authentication Solution

  • StormDefender® Door

  • StormDefender® Safe Room Doors are engineered for the ultimate in life safety protection for tornado rooms and safe rooms.

2019 'ASTORS' Awards Program Banquet Luncheon
2019 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program Banquet Luncheon

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program is specifically designed to honor distinguished government and vendor solutions that deliver enhanced value, benefit and intelligence to end users in a variety of government, homeland security and public safety vertical markets.

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards is the preeminent U.S. Homeland Security Awards Program highlighting the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking security solutions coming onto the market today, to ensure our readers have the information they need to stay ahead of the competition, and keep our Nation safe – one facility, street, and city at a time.

2019 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Luncheon at ISC East

90% of ‘ASTORS’ Award Winners return to compete in the Annual ‘ASTORS‘ Homeland Security Awards Program, and 100% of ‘ASTORS’ Sponsors have returned year to year to reap the benefits of their participation in the industry’s largest and most comprehensive Annual Awards Program.

The 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program surpassed expectations with a record number of nominations received from industry leaders and government agencies, and drew over 200 attendees to the ‘ASTORS’ Awards Presentation Banquet – an exclusive gourmet luncheon and networking opportunity which filled to capacity, before having to turn away late registrants.

The 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Luncheon featured an impassioned and compelling keynote address by William (Bill) Bratton, former police commissioner of the NYPD twice, the BPD, and former chief of the LAPD, on the history of policing in America and the evolution of critical communication capabilities in our post 9/11 landscape.

The event featured an impassioned and compelling keynote address by William J. Bratton, former police commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD) twice, the Boston Police Department (BPD), and former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), as he walked attendees through 50 years of American policing history, the impacts on the communities, and the evolution of critical communication capabilities in our post 9/11 landscape.

Commissioner Bratton, one of the world’s most respected and trusted experts on risk and security issues and Executive Chairman of Teneo Risk a global advisory firm, was recognized as the ‘2019 ‘ASTORS’ Person of the Year’ for his Lifetime of Dedication and Extraordinary Leadership in Homeland Security and Public Safety.

The 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program is sponsored by ATI SystemsAttivo NetworksAutomatic SystemsDesktop Alert, X.Labs and Reed Expositions, every one a returning Sponsor from 2019.

Why the ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program?

2019 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Luncheon at ISC East

American Security Today’s comprehensive Annual Homeland Security Awards Program is organized to recognize the most distinguished vendors of physical, IT, port security, law enforcement, and first responders, in acknowledgment of their outstanding efforts to ‘Keep our Nation Secure, One City at a Time.’

Over 200 distinguished guests representing Federal, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Firms, gathered from across North America, Europe and the Middle East to be honored among their peers in their respective fields which included: 

  • The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
  • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
  • United States Marine Corps
  • The Federal Protective Service (FPS)
  • Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
  • United States Postal Inspection Service
  • DHS S&T 
  • United States Marshals Service (USMS)
  • The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Police (PAPD)
  • The Department of Justice (DOJ)
  • The New York State Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services (NYS DHSES)
  • United States Border Patrol
  • AlertMedia, Ameristar Perimeter Security, Attivo Networks, Automatic Systems, Bellevue University, BriefCam, Canon U.S.A., CornellCookson, Drone Aviation, FLIR Systems, Hanwha Techwin, HID Global, IPVideo Corp., Konica Minolta Business Solutions, LenelS2, ManTech, Regroup Mass Notifications, SafeLogic, SolarWinds, Senstar, ShotSpotter, Smiths Detection, TCOM LP, Trackforce, Verint, and More!

From innovative Military Cyber Programs, to LocalState and Federal Public Safety and Emergency Management Initiatives, New Physical and IT Products and Services, and Security Professional, Threat Assessment, Emergency Preparedness, Law Enforcement and Homeland Security Education and Training Opportunities – Join your ‘ASTORS’ Award-Winning Peers and Receive the Recognition You Deserve!

Excellence in Public Safety and Government Security Award Nominations are also encouraged, such as those 2019 Honored Winners which includes the DEAU.S. Marine CorpsDHS S&TFederal Protective ServiceDHS S&T NUSTLU.S. Marshals ServiceU.S. Border PatrolThe Port Authority of NY/NJ, and the NYS Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services.

Individuals are also encouraged to be nominated for Government Excellence in Public Safety and Homeland Security such as last years widely respected recipients.

Why American Security Today?

The traditional security marketplace has long been covered by a host of publications putting forward the old school basics to what is Today – a fast changing security landscape.

The traditional security marketplace has long been covered by a host of publications putting forward the old school basics to what is Today – a fast changing security landscape.

American Security Today is uniquely focused on the broader Homeland Security & Public Safety marketplace with over 75,000 readers at the Federal, State and local levels of government as well as firms allied to government.

American Security Today brings forward a fresh compelling look and read with our customized digital publications that hold readers eyes throughout the story with cutting edge editorial that provides solutions to their challenges.

Harness the Power of the Web – with our 100% Mobile Friendly Publications

AST puts forward the Largest and Most Qualified Circulation in Government with Over 75,000 readers on the Federal, State and Local levels.
AST puts forward the Largest and Most Qualified Circulation in Government with Over 75,000 readers on the Federal, State and Local levels.

The AST Digital Publications is distributed to over 75,000 qualified government and homeland security professionals in federal, state and local levels.

‘PROTECTING OUR NATION, ONE CITY AT A TIME’

AST Reaches both Private & Public Experts, essential to meeting these new challenges.

Today’s new generation of public safety and security experts need real-time knowledge to deal with domestic and international terrorism, lone wolf attacks, unprecedented urban violence, shifts in society, culture and media bias – making it increasingly difficult for Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Military and Private Security Professionals to implement coordinated security measures to ensure national security and improve public safety.

American Security Today

These experts are from Government at the federal, state and local level as well as from private firms allied to government.

AST provides a full plate of topics in our AST Monthly Magazine Editions, AST Website and AST Daily News Alerts, covering 23 Vital Sectors such as Access Control, Perimeter Protection, Video Surveillance/Analytics, Airport Security, Border Security, CBRNE Detection, Border Security, Ports, Cybersecurity, Networking Security, Encryption, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Campus Security, Security Services, Corporate Facilities, and Emergency Response among others.

AST has Expanded readership into integral Critical Infrastructure audiences such as Protection of Nuclear Facilities, Water Plants & Dams, Bridges & Tunnels, and other potential targets of terrorism.

Other areas of concern include Transportation Hubs, Public Assemblies, Government Facilities, Sporting & Concert Stadiums, our Nation’s Schools & Universities, and Commercial Business Destinations – all enticing targets due to the large number of persons and resources clustered together.

To learn more about the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winners solutions, please go to the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Championship Edition Fully Interactive Magazine – the Best Products of 2019 ‘A Year in Review’.

The ‘ASTORS’ Champion Edition is published annually and includes a review of the ‘ASTORS’ Award Winning products and programs, highlighting key details on many of the winning firms products and services, includes video interviews and more.

It is your Go-To source throughout the year for ‘The Best of 2019 Products and Services‘ endorsed by American Security Today, and can satisfy your agency’s and organization’s most pressing Homeland Security and Public Safety needs.

From Physical Security (Access Control, Critical Infrastructure, Perimeter Protection and Video Surveillance Cameras and Video Management Systems), to IT Security (Cybersecurity, Encryption, Data Storage, Anti-Malware and Networking Security – Just to name a few), the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ CHAMPIONS EDITION will have what you need to Detect, Delay, Respond to, and Mitgate today’s real-time threats in our constantly evolving security landscape.

It also includes featured guest editorial pieces from some of the security industry’s most respected leaders, and recognized firms in the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program.

CornellCookson, a division of Clopay Corporation, is a leading rolling door and grille manufacturer with facilities in Goodyear, Arizona and Mountain Top, Pennsylvania.

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With history reaching back to 1828, CornellCookson product solutions can be found in stadiums, distribution facilities, hospitals, hotels and museums, as well as a variety of other facilities where reliability, security and life safety is vital.

CornellCookson products are available through a worldwide network of more than 700 professional dealers.

For more information, please visit www.cornellcookson.com.

For more information about advertising opportunities with American Security Today, please contact Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.

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