Integrated Safety Systems in Museums and Art Galleries

Safety in Museums and Art Galleries

Nursery schools, school districts, Universities, libraries and large University Campuses aim at creating an environment where students are interested in learning and teachers in teaching.

A prerequisite for all this is that everybody feels in a protected and safe environment where no violence and theft exist,   where the risk of vandalism is reduced to a minimum and where the safety of teachers and students is guaranteed.

Safety Systems for Cultural Goods

Safety in these critical places is guaranteed through the design, planning, installation, putting into service and maintenance of anti-intrusion and burglar alarm systems in compliance with the CEI79-3 and CEI EN 50131-1 reference Standards.

Before designing a system, possible threats and risks are analyzed.  The costs of possible thefts and damage as well as the location of the real estate, the presence of  controlling workforces and the history of previous thefts or threats are taken into consideration.

For industrial sites we usually offer protection including the monitoring of access points, surfaces and volumes with an external perimeter protection of the industrial site, including fences and areas not built on. We also take the topography and the use of nearby areas into account.

During the design phase we evaluate the possibility of protecting special areas inside the perimeter containing assets which may be of particular importance for the institution.

Particularly critical external areas can be provided with both fixed and mobile anti-terrorism systems preserving the city landscape and guaranteeing safety. These systems make it possible to open  automated gates to allow the entrance of emergency vehicles and rapid evacuation of the relevant areas. Remaining on the subject of anti-terrorism, for ports, airports and prisons we offer systems with metal-detectors and X-ray control machines.

A second, more internal barrier protects internal buildings and rooms. For rooms requiring a higher safety level, such as DPCs, servers and safes, ad-hoc multi-technology systems with smoke dischargers preventing thieves from completing their theft and from damaging the building are used.

Video Surveillance Services for Museums and Art Galleries

Pursuant to the CEI EN 62676 Standard, before designing an industrial video surveillance system we carry out an analysis of the specific requirements of the industrial site and identify which areas require  not only visual monitoring limited to the storage of images, but also  active filming and detecting of incidents by means of the following:

  • Streaming filming with last generation video cameras for reconstructing events: 4K resolution, advanced backlight management, multi-optical devices making it possible to zoom areas outside the relevant school in order to monitor the exit of students.
  • Tracking the object of interest by means of an auto-tracking function
  • Patrol functions with video cameras automatically moving from one pre-set position to another in order to constantly keep critical areas monitored.
  • Automatic real time notification in the case of access into a specific area, with pop-ups, video confirmation and location of the point of interest on the map.
  • Intelligent video analysis of images by means of “left object” algorithms for detecting objects left unattended inside virtual areas beyond a fixed time limit (anti-terrorism), “stolen object” systems for detecting removed objects, “loitering” systems for detecting subjects of interest staying in virtual areas beyond a certain time (anti-terrorism).

Access and Detection Systems – Cultural Goods

Every day many different people, such as pupils, students, teachers, professors, workers and cleaners come and go from schools and universities every day. However, inside campuses and in critical areas such as laboratories, libraries and student accommodation are accessible only to authorized persons. Therefore an access control system establishing who can have access and guaranteeing safety is necessary.

An access control system has the following advantages and purposes:

  • management of electronic key hanging boards: authorization to collect the keys and possibility to return them directly through the access control system. The objective of this process is being able to trace the keys and preventing those who have not returned them from leaving.
  • Higher safety level against internal/external/visitor’s attacks: internal and external areas are compartmentalized and gate access levels are assigned depending on the title, day, time band etc.
  • Retrospective tracking of incidents for security and statistic purposes.

Fire detection systems in Museums and Art Galleries

Quick fire detection in cultural and training institutions may save the life of many people and therefore correct design of fire detection systems is crucial.

The purposes of a fire detection system can be summarized as follows:

01Detecting a possible fire as soon as possible

02Helping evacuating people and removing objects as soon as possible

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Implementation of intervention plans 03

Implementation of fire protection systems and other safety measures 04

The design, installation, putting into service, operational control and maintenance of smoke detection systems in the industrial sector take place in compliance with the UNI 9795, UNI EN54 and UNI 11224 Standards.

Because these are public places, specific laws, such as the following, must be applied: PD 30/6/1995 for libraries and archives, MD 21/3/2018 for schools, MD 9/5/2007 for museums and exhibition areas.

In most cases museums and campuses are very crowded.  Therefore vocal emergency alert systems in compliance with the UNI ISO7240 Standard may be necessary. These systems inform those present of a danger which may make controlled and safe evacuation necessary.

For safeguarding people and the objects contained in particularly critical rooms, such  as SERVER or EDP rooms, we offer a switching off system with dedicated central units in compliance with the EN 12094-1:2003 Standard. This system is capable of managing output modules for activation purposes and input modules for signaling possible failures and/or for the disablement of rooms.