Best Practices for Access Approval

Facilities Management is actively concerned with the safety of all students, faculty, staff, and visitors to campus.  Safety is best achieved when all members of the campus community work together to promote a safe environment; therefore, FM recommends the following Best Practices for Building Access Approvals:

• All University employees are expected to exercise good judgment in the request and authorization of keys as liability for their misuse or misappropriation resides solely with the requestor or authorizer.
• Primarily, it is the responsibility of the approving department to determine if building access should be approved.  The Facilities Management Key and Lock Shop reserves the right to delay or deny a request if there are any irregularities or safety concerns related to the request.  Additionally, the Key and Lock Shop is available for consultation on building access levels should any questions arise that are not answered here.
• Keys should be issued at the minimum level of access needed to perform job responsibilities based on actual need, not convenience.  For example, master keys should not be issued when individual keys are adequate.
• All appropriate approvals should be in place prior to the issuance of keys.
• Do not approve access for areas of campus for which you are not responsible.
• Consider investing in a KeySecure lockbox in which your employees can store their keys on campus, rather than having them take them home each night.  The Key and Lock Shop can show you how KeySecure lockboxes work.
• Managers should set up a process to verify the keys issued to their employees on a regular basis.  It is recommended that this process is completed at a minimum near the end of each semester so keys that have been issued to students or faculty who may not be returned the following semester can be returned. Reports exist within the eWeber portal and assistance is available from the Key and Lock Shop.