You have a key control policy, but keys are still disappearing. Unauthorized people are accessing restricted areas. Your team can't agree on the proper procedures.
Why isn't your key control process working? Here are seven possible reasons and how to fix them.
Who's responsible for key control in your organization? IT? Security? Fleet management? Risk management?
When your policy doesn’t clearly define ownership, accountability suffers. You might have IT managing electronic access while security handles physical keys, creating gaps between systems. Or different departments might follow different procedures for the same keys.
Without clear ownership, you'll struggle to maintain consistent processes or hold anyone accountable when things go wrong.
Manual processes are more prone to human error. Paper logs get lost or incomplete. Employees skip logging "quick" key checkouts. Handwritten entries are illegible during audits.
Manual processes also make it difficult to track key usage patterns or identify security risks. When your audit trail has gaps, you're exposed to liability if something goes wrong.
Shadow keys are the unaccounted-for keys in your facility that aren’t part of your official track system. They could include:
These untracked keys are one of your biggest key security vulnerabilities.
Access creep happens when permissions expand over time without proper oversight. This scenario often happens when employees change roles within your organization. It could also involve people being granted access to specific keys or assets for temporary assignments and not having their key access revoked when the assignment ends.
Without regular access reviews, you'll eventually have people with keys or access they no longer need — or shouldn't have had in the first place.
Hopefully you train new employees on your key control processes and systems during the onboarding process. But as time goes on, technology and processes change, and employees forget things. Without recurring training, employees won’t stay current on your key control protocol.
Without regular key audits, you can’t confirm what you think you’re tracking versus what you’re actually tracking. You might discover missing keys months after they disappeared. Shadow keys multiply. Employees who’ve left the company still have access to keys.
Physical security breaches often involve current or former employees who know your vulnerabilities. Without accountability measures, it's difficult to detect or prevent unauthorized key usage.
When employees know their key access isn't being tracked, some will take advantage. The result? Theft, unauthorized access to sensitive areas, or worse.
To address these issues, start by examining your process from the ground up. Once you’ve defined clear ownership, you need a system that supports consistent execution. An electronic key control system solves many of these problems by giving you the ability to:
When your key control process isn’t working, an electronic key control system can help you address the root causes. You’ll spend less time tracking down missing keys, worrying about unauthorized access, and straightening out miscommunications about your key control policy.