Keeping Tabs on the Keys in the Copenhagen Airport

Securely controlling keys and access cards has always been a great challenge for Copenhagen Airport. The keys must be available to staff 24 hours a day, all year round, but it must be immediately obvious if a key goes missing. A future-proof solution was sought by the airport security team.

„With the new proxSafe electronic key management system (5 flexx 12U and 1 flexx 24U), we can always see who has the keys", explains Stig Høeg Andersen, Administrative Supervisor for Security Guards and area security. All key bundles are now fitted with an electronic chip that is read by key cabinets where the keys are kept locked away when not in use. According to Stig Høeg Andersen, the system is user friendly, both for the staff administering the system and for staff who collect and return their service keys daily.

It is defined in the system exactly which key or keys each employee should be able to use. The proxSafe system also continuously registers who has, or had, the keys. „The system is secure and very flexible. To gain access to the keys, employees present their ID cards. But they must first have one of these cards with them to gain access to the key management system at all. Each card is programmed so that it only gives access to the keys that each employee needs. This means that the majority of all key collections and returns can happen automatically."

Come Back Safe
The system has already ensured constant high security in our key administration but, according to Stig Høeg Andersen, the proxSafe system also has several other advantages: „If an employee needs a key that he does not normally use, it can be remotely released from our operations center. All events in the system are stored in a log, so we can always tell who had the key, and when. If a key is not returned as expected, the responsible person is immediately alerted via email." The proxSafe system has been supplied to the airport by the Ringsted company Digana-Taximat, which supplies electronic access control systems and administration stations for keys and valuables.